Home Visits are reserved for the following groups of patients:
- Terminally ill
- Housebound
- Patients who are severely ill and cannot be mobilised
Although a traditional part of general practice, home visits are time consuming. Please remember that several patients can be seen in the surgery in the time that it takes to make one home visit. So please help us to help you and our other patients by visiting the surgery whenever possible.
We want to see patients as quickly as possible, and the best way is often to encourage them to come to the surgery. This is because your GP will have access to all your medical records, including those held on computer. There is also better facilities for examining and treating patients at the surgery; the home environment can make an examination very difficult.
Transport and Social Problems
We cannot undertake home visits for reasons of convenience or lack of transport. We will be happy to provide you with details of Stafford Connect bus. From experience, we are aware that relatives, neighbours or friends are often willing to help out. Our responsibility to you is to resolve the medical problem you have; your responsibility is to take all the reasonable steps you are able to, to enable us to do that.
Requesting a Home Visit
Please request visits before 11am whenever possible as this allows the Doctor to plan their day accordingly. Late requests often lead to disruption of the appointment system and excessive waiting times for others if a late home visit has to be factored into the doctors schedule.
Please note that no patient in definite need of a home visit will be refused.