This policy takes into consideration the rising demands on general practice and reflects our efforts to maintain safe, high quality care for all of our registered patients.
Our home visiting policy is based on RCGP guidelines:
- You cannot insist that a GP visits you at home.
- General practice is not and has never been an emergency service.
- This is provided by the paramedic service, contactable on 999.
- Delaying assessment, to wait for a home visit, may delay treatment and so affect long term health outcomes.
GPs having to visit inappropriate house call patients are delayed from visiting those patients who are in genuine need of a visit and therefore this poses an unacceptable clinical risk. Only patients who are terminally ill or truly bed bound will normally be granted a home visit. All other patients are expected to attend the surgery.
Patients with common problems such as:
- Abdominal pain
- Cough
- Flu
- Back pain
- General malaise
- Having abnormal test results
are readily transportable by car either by friends, relatives or by taxi. It is not the doctor’s responsibility to arrange transport.
GPs are not responsible for ensuring that a patient has financial means to attend the surgery nor that the patient chooses to register with a practice that is difficult for them to get to in bad weather or without a car.