Home Visits & Housebound Patients

Home visits are available for those who the doctor judges to be unable to attend the surgery. If you feel that you require a home visit, please ring 01476 850123 where possible before 10:30am and a receptionist will ask you several questions; this will help the doctors decide the urgency of the problem and plan their visits.

One of the doctors will usually ring you back before agreeing that a home visit is necessary. Please note that the doctor attending may not be the one requested due to area and workload.

The duty doctor will ring back any request for a home visit after 11:00am and discuss the options available. These options are telephone advice, a home visit that day, a home visit the next day, or a hospital consultation.

Please note: The doctors can see at least 4 patients in surgery in the time it takes to do one home visit.

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You could also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

A patient is deemed to be housebound when they are unable to leave their home environment through a physical or psychological illness. A patient is not considered housebound if he or she is able to leave their home with minimal assistance or support. For example unassisted/assisted visit to the Doctor, dentist, hairdresser, supermarket, social events or hospital outpatient appointments. Some patients may not be housebound permanently but rather are housebound temporarily as a consequence of an episode of illness. Minimal assistance would be described as a person who can leave their own home and travel to a clinical appointment in a vehicle such as a personal car, taxi or public transport adapted for their use or not and with or without the use of a wheelchair either by themselves or with an escort.

To avoid confusion any person who requires a specialist vehicle (Ambulance) or a two person escort would be regarded as housebound. To avoid further confusion a person will not be regarded as housebound because they do not personally have a companion to escort them to a clinical appointment.