Home Visit Requests

Our home visiting policy is based on RCGP guidelines. You cannot insist that a GP visits you at home. A GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it. A GP can also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Due to increasing demand, GPs can no longer automatically visit any patient who requests a home visit. All visits must now be triaged and dealt with according to clinical need. GPs are better able to assess patients in the surgery where they have access to specialist equipment, good lighting and examination facilities and therefore it is always the preferable site for any consultation. 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. 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. GPs are not obliged to visit a patient if having assessed a patient's clinical needs on the telephone, have found them to be suitable for an alternative method of healthcare. As long as the GP has provided appropriate clinical advice and assistance for a patient (which may be an appointment the same day, a future day, telephone/video advice or attendance at another healthcare site such as the HUBs, A&E, etc, then this is deemed suitable and appropriate use of scare NHS resources and the partners at the practice will support any such decision made.

Taking the above into account, please feel free to ask for a home visit if you are concerned about your health situation (this is known as a 'home visit request').

Try to request this before 10.30am.