How do you qualify for home visit?

OK but I have no one to take me and am almost bedbound so no it is not practical.
What do other disabled people do ?

I'm disabled, I use a wheelchair but can't self propel so like many others I go to the doctors just like you but my Son has to come with me. Those that don't have a car tend to have mobility scooters or electric wheelchairs to get around or call a cab. Disabled doesn't mean bedridden.

I don't understand what happen with disabled people?

If you can't walk and don't have a car what do people do?

We have some GP's that still do home visits but how can a Doctor do their job if they don't see the patient sometimes?

Also the terminally ill ? Do they get a visit?

I agree with Mumofmadboys. It would do no harm to lower the academic standards slightly and concentrate a bit more on people skills etc.

I remember years ago the son of our next door neighbour going to read medicine. I had known this boy for years a real academic high flyer, but still couldn't look me in the eye or talk to beyond a quick mumble. I have often wondered how he has fared in medicine.

Oh Daisymad I'm so sorry. That is awful. Such a variation between areas.

We do need to train more doctors, so something has to change. What that is, I don't know.

GP surgery very reluctant to visit my DH. I don't know how I got him to the car, he was half in his PJ's too. He collapsed in the surgery so they called an ambulance. The GP was useless, the surgery nurses excellent. I thought he had died when they said they the could not get a BP reading. He had only been discharged from hospital a couple of days previously. Any way he is still with us, but home visits are very hard to get.

My surgery does do home visits but only for the elderly.
If I have an emergency I go to the nearest walk in centre.
I have to wait for up to 4 weeks for a gp appointment.
The good old days have gone for sure.

We are very lucky. We can always speak to a doctor and if necessary get an appointment the same day at the surgery or at home.

My mother is 99, lives on her own but is quite frail. A nurse came out to give her a flu jab and then a few weeks later to take blood . We haven’t yet declared her as housebound, which our surgery let’s us do, but if the weather is bad a GP will come out to her.
We have also had home visits when my husband has been very ill I but we always had to go through a triage system where a GP would phone us first.

I think we need to lower the academic achievements needed to get into medicine a little and put more emphasis on people skills and caring. We certainly need to train more doctors. The present situation is putting a lot of people off from applying.

I know mumofmadboys but the government should have ensured we had enough. That is their job. That is the service we pay for.
I know how overstretched our GPs are. I really don't know how they cope with the stress.

annepl -GPs would be very happy to do more home visits if the workload wasn't so horrendous. If there were more GPs there would be time for GPs to visit but currently time constraints make home visits a poor use of time.

On Monday I asked for a home visit as the Bodach was having severe pain from spread from a malignant melanoma. The doctor phoned me back, then a trainee GP came out, but just really gave advice on the dosage of Gabapentin. He is deteriorating rapidly, so same procedure on Wednesday, and the ‘real’ GP phoned ,gave him a thorough going over, and told us what I already knew, that it’s just a matter of keeping him comfortable. He’s coming back next week, so it looks as if our surgery is quite good at home visits. They also have one doctor for urgent appointments, where you just wait in turn, so I can’t fault them.

It is not allowed to turn up first thing at our surgery to queue for an appointment. You have to ring in, if you can beat the queue, say what it is for and might, if you are lucky, get an appointment that day, or a GP might ring you.
Or you can book online, up to three weeks ahead.
Recently my husband needed his annual diabetic review, so he booked his blood tests, and GP appointment for about a week later. The surgery then rang to cancel the blood test, so he had to re- arrange the GP. No joy, no appointments until mid January.
However last Christmas when DH got bronchitis, I rang 111, and without too many questions was told a doctor would ring back. He did so, told us to go to a surgery that was open on Boxing Day, we were seen straightaway, antibiotics prescribed, chemist open, job done, brilliant service.
I have no idea whether anyone gets a home visit from our GPS.

My surgery doesn't do home visits. They barely do appointments. Such a shame. They used to be an outstanding practise but have gone downhill so much.

I was surprised (and relieved) to get a home visit about three years ago after having spent three weeks in hospital with both pleural pericarditis and myocarditis and then been discharged while I was still quite ill because of bed shortages. I’d picked up a chest infection and eye infection while in hospital and, on top of what I’d already got, was in a right state and like a dying duck in bed. I knew I needed to see a doctor and had made an appointment that evening and was resigned to getting dressed and staggering down to the medical centre but my husband rang the surgery and insisted on a home visit and I got one within a couple of hours. I was very grateful for it too.

Sallywally that was very bad. I think I would have complained.

'A home visit takes more time' should not be seen as a problem. If needed, it should be part of the service. Asking very sick people to struggle to the surgery is wrong and could possibly make them more ill.

mumofmadboys ''The problem is on average a visit takes 4 - 5 x the amount of time that a surgery consultation takes.''

more like 10 - 20 x - especially in rural areas. Often a GP must then wait for ambulance, or for care staff to arrive, etc.

When my son,now aged 30 was 19 he developed what we now know was sepsis. It was a terrible time. He became ill on the Wednesday, phoned the GP on the Friday who wouldn’t even see him at the surgery, but spoke to him on the phone. He was worse on the Saturday. We went to the out of hours service who said he looked as if he was on drugs! Much worse on the Sunday, bellowing with pain. Out of hours visited at home, very, very reluctantly and said we should take him to hospital ‘if we were worried’. We did and he was immediately admitted and started on IV antibiotics. He went on to develop endocarditis and underwent 5 hours mitral heart valve replacement. I believe if had been seen sooner none of this would have happened.

I think home visits are only for extreme cases here. I took my poorly grandson to A & E in a minicab instead. I'm sure that children get priority but still we had a three hour wait.

No, I didn't call 111. I can do without answering 100 irrelevant questions just because it's 'what we do' - I just don't have the patience!

Ilovecheese and MOnica

Yes, I know what you both are saying. This GP had a wife and son, the wife had been badly injured in the war, I think was an invalid. The son went on to be a GP like his dad in the same village.
All I can say he was a dedicated doctor, in position after the formation of the NHS.
I think he was a hard act for the son to follow, by then there was another doctor in the practice.

This is why hospitals are under so much pressure.
More money needs to be put in to front line services.
My friends father is a retired GP, he cannot understand how with practice nurses, phlebotomists etc etc, home visits are so rare.
He was on call 7 nights a month did surgery am and pm, hospital visits and home visits.

We don't have any issues getting appointments, we go online at 8 am and can choose from a few appointments at two surgeries. I always insist on seeing the same Doctor so depending on where he is that day depends on which surgery I have to go to. The only bit I have never figured out is some days there are appointments "on the day" and "24 hour appointments" which is next day but some days it's just "on the day".

Because my DD has multiple health issues she has frequent home visits. One GP calls in on his way home after surgery. Another arranged an appointment at an assessment centre.
The surgery is 2 minutes away from DD's flat and the GP picked her up and took her there since she also had to attend the meeting.
Couldn't ask for better service.

Goodness Monica another side indeed.
GrandmaMoira I suppose there is that possibility. But the mother should have felt able to ask. It was a bitterly cold windy morning too.
I'm no expert but the problems others have mentioned about getting appointments are disgusting. And having to tell reception personal medical problems is wrong too. We have paid enough in contributions for many years to deserve better.
You were very lucky Barmeyoldbat