Home Visits

If possible please try to telephone reception before 10:00 if you require a home visit.

A doctor or nurse may phone you back as it may be that your problem can be dealt with by telephone advice, or that it would be more appropriate to send a nurse, or indeed arrange a hospital attendance.

House visits are only available for patients who are housebound because of illness or disability.

Please remember that several patients can be seen in the practice in the time that it takes to make one home visit. There are also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery.

A Clinician will usually phone back any request for a home visit to check that this is the most appropriate management for the request.

Highcroft home visit prioritising policy

It is recognised good practice for GP practices to have systems in place to triage and prioritise home visits.

When a request for a home visit is made, we assess:

• whether a home visit is clinically necessary; and the urgency of need for medical attention.
• this is undertaken by a clinician telephoning the patient, carer or care home nurse in advance to gather information to allow for an informed decision to be made on prioritisation according to clinical need.

In some cases if the urgency of need is so great that it will be inappropriate for the patient to wait for a clinician home visit and alternative emergency care arrangements will be necessary.