Home Visiting Guidelines
Most patients who need to consult a GP will be seen at the surgery but we continue to make a limited number of home visits when this is appropriate.
Our guidelines are in accordance with the National and local recommendations and are produced below.
GP Visit Recommended
GP home visiting can make good sense and is the best way of giving a medical opinion in cases involving:
- The terminally ill
- The truly bed-bound patient, for whom travel to premises by car would cause a deterioration in their medical condition
GP Visit is Not Usual
In most of these cases, to visit would not be appropriate:
- Common symptoms of childhood illnesses: fevers, cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting, and most cases of abdominal pain. These patients are usually well enough to travel by car. It is not harmful to take a child with a fever outside. These children may not be fit to travel by bus or to walk, bur car transport is available from friends, relatives or taxi firms. It is not a doctor’s responsibility to arrange such transport.
- Adults with common problems: such as cough, sore throat, influenza, back pain and abdominal pain, are also readily transportable by car to a doctor’s premises.
- Common problems in the elderly: such as poor mobility, joint pain and general malaise, would also be treated by consultation at the doctor’s premises. The exception to this would be the truly bed-bound patient.
If you cannot come to the surgery and need the doctor to visit, please telephone 01507 473483 before 11.30am.
