Appointments

– Due to increasing demands, Clinicians can no longer automatically visit any patient who requests a home visit.
– Requests that come in after 10:30am will not be accepted and may be triaged the following day.
– All visits must now undergo an element of triage and be dealt with according to clinical need.
– A Clinician will only visit you at home if they think your medical condition requires it.
– A Clinician will also decide how urgently any visit is needed. Clinicians are better able to assess patients at the surgery where they have access to your full medical record including allergies, medications, results etc. as well as specialist equipment, good lighting and examination facilities and therefore the surgery is always the preferable site for any consultation.
– Clinicians who are having to visit inappropriate house calls are delayed from visiting those patients who are in genuine need of a house call.
– Clinicians are not obliged to visit a patient if they have assessed the patients’ clinical need on the telephone and found them to be suitable for an alternative method of healthcare. As long as a GP or appropriate healthcare professional has provided a plan for a patient (which may be an appointment the same day, a future day, telephone advice or attendance at another healthcare site) the partners of the surgery will support the decision made.
– Home visits are reserved for the following: patients who are genuinely housebound and who do not leave the house for any reason; including those in nursing and residential homes; Patients who’s clinical condition prevents them from travelling to the surgery and that they have a medical condition that necessitates an urgent medical opinion;
– Age is not a criterion for a home visit.
– Home visits will not be undertaken for social / transport reasons.
– The GP / Clinician may refuse a visit to the patient and offer an urgent appointment at the surgery if they feel that is more appropriate.
– Patients should dial 999 in the case of a genuine life-threatening emergency. For life threatening emergencies, requesting a home visit from a GP can delay life-saving treatment.
– It is always appreciated if you can highlight any obvious risks to clinicians when requesting your home visit i.e. Animals in the home, Smoker etc. This allows us to risk assess in advance. Expectations would be that the consultation area is smoke free, there is a space to safely enable the clinician to undertake their role, or that any animal that is likely to cause a nuisance is not in the same room for the duration of the visit.