It is normally always best for us to see a patient at the Medical Centre. This is because we will have full access to their medical records and better facilities for both examination and treatment of any problems identified.
However we do understand that some patients are genuinely unable to make the short trip into see us. Therefore we do offer home visits in some limited circumstances, normally where a patient is
- Terminally ill or,
- Housebound and cannot be mobilised
Although a traditional part of general practice, 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.
- Transport – We cannot undertake home visits for reasons of convenience or lack of transport .We will be happy to provide you with details of local taxi firms. 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.
- Please request visits before 10am whenever possible as 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.
- A doctor/nurse will call you back on most occasions to assess your problem. This is to enable the doctor to prioritise visits.
- 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.
- 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.
