In the time that a doctor can see one person at home, they can have seen up to about 4 patients in the surgery. Often it is traveling to a patient’s home that takes the time. We also cannot take all the facilities available to us at the surgery out on our home visits.

Visits are one of the privileges of the NHS; they are not a patient right. We are very happy to visit where there is a medical reason to do so, but not where the reason is either social or convenience. We find that people request home visits because they don’t want to pay for a taxi (but are happy to do so for a haircut), or because it is raining or more convenient. It is almost never appropriate to visit children at home – coming out in the cold is not going to affect them if they are properly dressed.

It is important that we are fair to everyone. Wasting time on unnecessary home visits can delay someone else getting (sometimes life-saving) treatment they need.