Please read our home visiting policy below
Please telephone 7635 7100 before 10.30am if you require a home visit.
Chest pain, shortness of breath and loss of consciousness are emergencies.
Please dial 999 for these symptoms.
Requesting a home visit
Requests for visits must be made before 10.00am and at the latest 12 noon. Visiting will normally take
place after morning surgery. Please only request home visits if you are incapable of attending the
surgery. Whenever possible try to come into the surgery, as facilities here are far better for examination
and treatment. It helps us to judge the urgency of the call if you describe the symptoms: the
receptionists are trained to deal with your call so do expect to be asked. All information is confidential.
The doctor may telephone prior to, or instead of, visiting. Visits requested later in the day that are for
the housebound but are not urgent will not be seen that day. Ring early to request a routine visit if you
are housebound.
Children
Sick children will always be seen as soon as possible if brought into the surgery. It is not appropriate to
wait for a visit. We rarely visit children at home as a responsible adult should be available to bring them
to the surgery.
Our home visiting policy
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 (or at a care 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 patients who request a home visit. All visits will 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. Therefore it is always the preferable site for any consultation.
GPs having to make inappropriate home visits are delayed from seeing those patients who are in
genuine need of a home 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 choses 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 they have assessed the patient’s clinical need on the telephone
and found them to be suitable for an alternative method of healthcare.
As long as the GP has provided a plan for a patient (which may be an appointment the same day, a
future day, telephone advice or attendance at other healthcare site such as A & E or a message
communicated via reception staff) then the partners of Red Roofs Surgery will support any such decision
made.