Patients who are genuinely too ill or disabled enough to be housebound can be seen at home by the GP’s or Nurses. Most medical problems are dealt with more effectively in the clinical setting of a well-equipped surgery. If you require a home visit please phone the surgery between 09:30 and 11:30.

All visit requests are to be assessed by the doctors.

A doctor may telephone you after morning surgery to assess your condition before arranging to visit you.

When is a Home Visit appropriate?

Many patients believe there is an automatic right to a home visit from a GP between 08:00 and 18:30, but this is not the case.

Doctors will always encourage people to come into the surgery because this is where the best care can be provided. Specialist equipment is there, tests can be carried out more easily and drugs issued if necessary.

GPs tend to visit a patient at home when:

• the patient is confined due to illness or disability
• urgent treatment can be given more quickly by visiting.

The one thing guaranteed to damage a doctor-patient relationship is to ask for a home visit when it’s not medically necessary and then be out when the doctor arrives at your home.

In the time it takes to see one person at home, your GP can see between two and four patients at the surgery.

For this reason, if you request a home visit, your GP may call you back to find out more about your problem before deciding to come out.