Home Visits
If you need medical advice, and are unable to come to the surgery because you
are too ill, you may need a Home Visit. Some problems may be able to be dealt
with during a Telephone Consultation with your Doctor. If you do feel you need a
Home Visit, please phone the reception team on (01424) 772263 between
08:30 & 10:30 am if at all possible. We cannot guarantee that it will be your
usual GP who visits you, as we have to share the workload of Home Visits.
We do not visit
patients whose main reason for a visit is because of transport difficulties. If
you are physically fit to come to the surgery you should do so, even if it means
getting a taxi or a friend or relative to bring you. We have better equipment
and examination facilities at the Surgery, and our time is better used in seeing
patients here than in making unnecessary journeys.
Very few
children ever need a home visit. Even children who have a fever or are vomiting
can usually be transported quite safely to the Surgery. Most children seem
actually to get better when coming out of the house. Even if they were ill
enough to need to be in hospital, the first thing that would happen to them
would be that they would have to leave home!
Emergencies
If you think
you need an urgent visit during Surgery hours, ring the reception team on
(01424) 772263 and make sure they know you think an urgent visit may be
needed. They may want a Doctor to speak to you first. Quite often your problem
may be dealt with by being offered an immediate or urgent appointment at the
Surgery.
After Surgery
hours we participate in an on-call "cooperative" called South East
Health, for which we all
do on-call shifts. Your call will initially be dealt with by a Nurse working for
NHS Direct, in a control room dealing specially with calls from the South East
Health area.
If you need help outside surgery hours, phone (01424) 772263 and you will
be connected to the out-of-hours service. If the Nurse
you speak to cannot sort out your problem, she will pass your call to one of the
GPs working for South East Health who will then contact you. The Doctor may decide you need
to be seen in an emergency surgery, or need a visit by them, or need an
ambulance or can wait to see your usual GP the next day.
If you
have Chest Pain
which has lasted more than 15 minutes
and has not been relieved by any anti-angina sprays or under-the-tongue tablets
that you use, please phone 999
for an ambulance. Modern Hospital
treatments for Heart Attacks are much more likely to be successful if given
within an hour. Phoning us first only delays these treatments.
Patients
with an epileptic fit lasting more than
20 minutes or a
loss of consciousness
(other than a simple faint) or
very severe breathing difficulties
should also phone 999.
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