Home visits are only available for patients who are housebound or too unwell to attend the surgery.
If you think you need a home visit, please contact the surgery before 10:00am if possible.
A doctor may call you back to assess your condition and decide whether a home visit is the most appropriate way to provide care.
Many problems can be assessed more effectively at the surgery, where we have access to better equipment and facilities.
If you are able to attend the practice, we will usually ask you to come to the surgery instead.
Many patients believe there is a standard home visit service available from a GP between 8am and 6.30pm, but this is not the case – the GP will decide if a home visit is warranted. Upon initial assessment over the telephone the GP may override the request for a home visit and advise the patient to attend A&E; without first seeing them. This is providing the medical condition of the patient makes that course of action appropriate.
111 will only recommend that the patient contacts their own GP service; the GP will decide the type of consultation. NHS care is based on patient need as assessed by a Clinician.
If a home visit is not approved and the patient needs to attend the surgery, they will need to arrange their own transport; this is in line with local and national guidance from health care providers and GP professional bodies.
Doctors will always encourage people to come into the surgery because this is where the best care can be provided due to having access to specialist equipment, tests can be carried out more easily and drugs issued if necessary
Nationally and in line with guidance endorsed by the Royal College of GPs, a home visit occurs for the following three reasons:
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The patient is terminally ill and housebound |
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The patient is housebound – does not leave home for other appointments |
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The patient has a severe learning or physical disability – however many of these patients can be brought to clinic by their carers. |