Home Visiting Policy
Historically in the UK, GPs have undertaken many home visits. However, with increasing demand and medical complexity this way of working is no longer possible.
We have more requests for home visits than our capacity allows. With a vast geographical area, time taken travelling for home visits takes us away from seeing patients in the surgery. This has a knock-on effect on the overall service we are able to provide.
Following the national guidance, our criteria for a home visit is:
Housebound
You need to be truly housebound. If you go out of the house to hospital outpatient clinics or for any other reason this does not reach the definition of housebound and you will not qualify for a home visit.
Assessment Triage
If you, a family member or carer requests a home visit you will be phoned first and assessed. Demand frequently exceeds our capacity and it is important that we are able to assess the situation and prioritize based on clinical need.
Integrity
We have had several cases where patients have claimed to be housebound (or their relatives or carers have) but we then have realised that they are attending outpatient clinics or going out of the house. This is a breach of our trust and due to limited resources may have potentially put other patients at risk.
Please see the diagram below which may be helpful.
