Due to the current pandemic our GP's are not performing home visits. This is run by a home visiting triage service. So during this time if you request a home visit it will be an alternative health care professional that visits you.
Home Visits are reserved for the following groups of patients:
- Terminally ill
- Housebound
- Patients who are severely ill and cannot be mobilised.
Asking for a visit does not guarantee you a visit. The Doctor will phone you first to check the nature of your problem and assess the need for a home visit. It may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance. It also prepares the doctor to collect some information required as necessary for the visit. If you need the Doctor to visit please try to ring before 10.30am. This allows the Doctor to plan their day accordingly. Late requests often lead to disruption of the appointment system and excessive waiting times for others.
The receptionist will always ask you the nature of the problem, as this will enable the Doctor to decide the urgency of the visit. Home visits are time consuming. Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. So please help us to help you and our other patients by visiting the surgery whenever possible
We want to see patients as quickly as possible, and the best way is often to encourage them to come to the surgery, because your GP will have access to all your medical records, including those held on computer. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.
Babies and small children should be brought to the surgery where we will do our best to see them promptly.
Transport/social problems – We cannot undertake home visits for reasons of convenience or lack of transport. From experience, we are aware that relatives, neighbours or friends are often willing to help out. Our responsibility to you is to resolve the medical problem you have; your responsibility is to take all the reasonable steps you are able to, to enable us to do that.
The doctors would like to stress that NO patient in definite need of a home visit will be refused. In the past, GPs were able to do routine follow up home visits. Sadly, pressures of time and more patients needing attention means this is usually no longer possible.