Doctors Receptionists, waste of space...

[burston]

I rang the surgery this morning to get a home visit for my mother in law who is 92 for her yearly review. They gave me a time for tomorrow (tues) between 11.30-3.30
I said I would check it with my mother in law and the receptionist shouted down the phone. We only do home visits for people who cant get out so it should be alright. I explained that she could have her hairdresser or cleaner coming at that times but no response so I accepted the times. It just happens that my mother in law does go to her whist drive club on tues pm so shes now had to cancel it and she only goes once a week to keep her little grey cells working. Are Doctors saying that they will only do home visits to people who are housebound or gaga. Arnt they allowed to have a bit of a social life.
She does get a lift to this club whereas going to the surgery is a taxi hassle there and back as she can hardly walk.

[Lakitu]

Next time she acts like that, tell her it's none of her business WHY you have to check. When the doc arrives for the visit, say something to him/her about it, chances are, she's up her own arse and rude to other patients too. It's not on.

[bigmamma]

That's not on hun , our drs surgery will visit at home for the elderly and infirm , bless her , at 92 it should be understood if she can't be taken for her appointment , or if it's difficult for her to get there . Will it be the annual drs check , or the annual check done on all elderly by the nurse btw ?xxx

[sqad617]

My comments are general burston and do not necesarily apply to your mother in law. What has age got to do with home visits? These are made on the basis of medical considerations, not age. Some people are old at 65 in their outlook and I know 90yyr olds who are independant and fit.
Home visits are inefficient unless the visit is needed for reasons of ill health or being bedridden. Age should not be an issue.

[MrXLA]

Thank you squad617 for your sensible comments.
burston I fully appreciate why you would be annoyed about the manner in which the receptionist spoke to you and agree it was highly inappropriate.
However I'll attempt to explain the difficulty with home visits with an example a friend told me about recently (respecting confidentiality of course). An irrate daughter demanded an imemdiate home visit for her 72 year old mother claiming urgent/emergency medical attention was required (incidentally thats an A&E job normally). My friend went straight round after morning clinic to discover the lady had WALKED to the post office which was further away than the GPs surgery!!!!
This sort of thing is a regular occurence and sadly this sort of time wasting means that in many cases GPs cannot be as flexible as they would like to be with appointments.

[MrXLA]

I'm not suggesting in the case of your mother that a home visit was inappropriate, however because a large number of people abuse the service its becoming more diufficult to provide.
I'll not rant too much about home visits, but to be perfectly honest in my view there are very few indications for them.
If you require urgent medical attention, the A&E team can't come to your home (not usually anyway) and if for example you required elective surgery the theatre team couldn't come round and set up in your kitchen.
So why then is there such an issue about GP home visits....????

[Lakitu]

MrXLA, burston was happy to accept an appointment, it wasn't an emergency.

The A&E team send out an ambulance!

Sometimes there IS a need for home visits.

[MrXLA]

I DID NOT SAY THERE WASN'T
I simply said there were very few indications.
Yes A&E send an ambulance because its 'life and death' but the SHO, registrar and consultant usually aren't in the back of it!!!