Doctor to your house?

pajodublin

Didnt know where to put this so i though in here wud be ok

Im looking for a doctor to visit the house.
Im in north Dublin city
anyone know the number for the Bureau doctors

javaboy

Moved from After Hours.

Wurly

1890 304 950.

Prepare yourself to wait hours for this.

I was in agony one night with my stomach and could barely talk to your man down the phone. 6 hours later, the doc arrived.

Told me to go and wait in A&E then.:rolleyes:

January

Trí wrote: »

1890 304 950.

Prepare yourself to wait hours for this.

I was in agony one night with my stomach and could barely talk to your man down the phone. 6 hours later, the doc arrived.

Told me to go and wait in A&E then.:rolleyes:

Is that DDOC??

Had to ring these two weeks ago for my boyfriend who was in agonizing pain, couldn't even talk and was crying (not like my boyfriend). Rang them at 8pm and the doctor didn't arrive at the house untill 3.15am... He knocked on the door so loudly that he woke my 7 week old!!!

Wurly

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Is that DDOC??

Had to ring these two weeks ago for my boyfriend who was in agonizing pain, couldn't even talk and was crying (not like my boyfriend). Rang them at 8pm and the doctor didn't arrive at the house untill 3.15am... He knocked on the door so loudly that he woke my 7 week old!!!

Yeah - they're BRILL, aren't they.:rolleyes:

I can't find another number listed for doctor on call unfortunately.

tallaght01

Do people in excruciating pain really call their GP out???

Why would you not just go to hospital?

dubtom

tallaght01 wrote: »

Do people in excruciating pain really call their GP out???

Why would you not just go to hospital?

Because the hospital's are chocked up enough as it is. At least a doctor will know if it's serious enough to send you or call an ambulance. The other benifit,(well it used to be) is that the hospital visit is covered cost wise if a doctor sends you. It's €100 if you just turn up I believe.

T-Square

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Is that DDOC??

Had to ring these two weeks ago for my boyfriend who was in agonizing pain, couldn't even talk and was crying (not like my boyfriend). Rang them at 8pm and the doctor didn't arrive at the house untill 3.15am... He knocked on the door so loudly that he woke my 7 week old!!!

A highly trained professional comes to your house at your request at 3am and then you complain about his loud knocking?

lol :rolleyes:

smallest violin in the world!

Wishbone Ash

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Had to ring these two weeks ago for my boyfriend who was in agonizing pain, couldn't even talk and was crying (not like my boyfriend). Rang them at 8pm and the doctor didn't arrive at the house untill 3.15am

The fact that he was crying probably moved him down the list. People in very severe pain do not/cannot cry.

January

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The fact that he was crying probably moved him down the list. People in very severe pain do not/cannot cry.

Probably

Maybe there should be two doctors on call to get through all the patients, there's obviously a demand for it if we were waiting 7 hours for a doctor to call to the house...

Didn't go to A&E because we reckoned it was probably full of people who had more serious problems than we had... Do the HSE not ask us to go to the doctor first and then, if referred, to the hospital?? Instead of going to the hospital as the first port of call and adding to the long queues unnecessarily?

tallaght01

I think most people go to hospital when they're writhing in agony!

I would hope that's what people would do anyway. Waiting 4 hours for a GP who's covering a massive area to come and see you and then send you to hospital to wait again seems counter productive.

I'd want the hardcore hospital pain relief

Kernel

tallaght01 wrote: »

I think most people go to hospital when they're writhing in agony!

I would hope that's what people would do anyway. Waiting 4 hours for a GP who's covering a massive area to come and see you and then send you to hospital to wait again seems counter productive.

I'd want the hardcore hospital pain relief

Yeah but Dublin hospitals are akin to some backwater clinic in Angola. Last time I had to go, there were drunks and junkies everywhere and I was on a trolley for two days (4 trolleys in a room used for plaster casts with a homeless guy who you could smell from the corridor outside) before being put in a public ward with a prisoner for another night and then moved to semi private thanks to my VHI. :rolleyes: Kips. I'll stay at home and risk death next time.

tallaght01

Kernel wrote: »

Yeah but Dublin hospitals are akin to some backwater clinic in Angola. Last time I had to go, there were drunks and junkies everywhere and I was on a trolley for two days (4 trolleys in a room used for plaster casts with a homeless guy who you could smell from the corridor outside) before being put in a public ward with a prisoner for another night and then moved to semi private thanks to my VHI. :rolleyes: Kips. I'll stay at home and risk death next time.

That's your perogative entirely. But then don't blame the single handed GP who's handling all these hospital cases on his own when you have to wait a few hours.

January

tallaght01 wrote: »

I think most people go to hospital when they're writhing in agony!

I would hope that's what people would do anyway. Waiting 4 hours for a GP who's covering a massive area to come and see you and then send you to hospital to wait again seems counter productive.

I'd want the hardcore hospital pain relief

It's funny you should mention that tallaght01, because the lady on the phone said to me and I quote "They have to deal with dying people and people having heart attacks first, so you may be waiting a while".

I'd think if you were having or thought you were having a heart attack the first thing anyone would do is ring an ambulance, not ring flippin' DDOC!!

tallaght01

adrieanne__x wrote: »

It's funny you should mention that tallaght01, because the lady on the phone said to me and I quote "They have to deal with dying people and people having heart attacks first, so you may be waiting a while".

I'd think if you were having or thought you were having a heart attack the first thing anyone would do is ring an ambulance, not ring flippin' DDOC!!

Well, I think that's the point.

people call their GP for crazy stuff our of hours. I sometimes think I'd go so far as to say there's nothing that should require a GP out of hours.

But like the lady on the phone said, there are lots of terminally ill patients who choose to live out the rest of their days at home. The GPs are quite busy overnight, and one of the things they often do is visit these people to manage their pain etc.

But it does amaze me how people call their GP for the most serious of conditions, and others turn up to A+E at 4am with earache.

AmcD

I have done the odd shift for DDoc. There are two GPs in cars covering from the Liffey, right up to the edges of North County Dublin. To be honest I rarely do housecalls that are warranted. People who are terminally ill, or who are actually elderly and ill deserve housecalls. People don't realise that getting a housecall is a lesser service than getting an appointment at the nearest out of hours centre. Doctors can do very little with a bag full of limited medications and equipment. It may be inconvenient, but the consultation is likely to be more thorough and safer in the out of hours centre. This is especially true in the case of sick children. If somebody arrives for their appointment with an obviously sick child, or is in a lot of pain themselves, then the nurse will usually alert the doctor and get them seen before other patients.
If somebody is left waiting hours after requesting a housecall, it usually because the two GPs are doing a list of calls. These might include the following:
A healthy woman in her 40s with a kidney infection
A woman in her 70s who is looking for a prescription for medication "in case I get pain overnight"
A man in his 30s who developed a headcold/flu at 5pm and rings for a housecall at 6pm
All these are true housecall requests, but details kept vague for obvious reasons.

Kernel

tallaght01 wrote: »

That's your perogative entirely. But then don't blame the single handed GP who's handling all these hospital cases on his own when you have to wait a few hours.

Don't get me wrong doc, I don't blame the GP at all. I understand many of them are overworked. I'm just pointing out that there is no good alternative for many people, in terms of walking into a hospital in Dublin.

I don't even have a GP, and haven't been to a doctor in a long time, I'm one of those who stay in my own bed and suffer if need be. And after my previous experience in hospital, I'm deadly serious that if I was dying, I would prefer to stay in my own bed than repeat the experience in a Dublin A&E. The horrendous part of it is that while in hospital I was surrounded by all these poor old codgers who were past their best before, and were basically dying in these dirty overcrowded hospitals. A terrible ignominy for people who worked all their lives for this State. Most people, unfortunately, wont realise how bad it is until they are in a similar situation at the end of their days.

Again, I stress, I don't blame the doctors or nurses, I blame the system.

tallaght01

Kernel wrote: »

Don't get me wrong doc, I don't blame the GP at all. I understand many of them are overworked. I'm just pointing out that there is no good alternative for many people, in terms of walking into a hospital in Dublin.

I don't even have a GP, and haven't been to a doctor in a long time, I'm one of those who stay in my own bed and suffer if need be. And after my previous experience in hospital, I'm deadly serious that if I was dying, I would prefer to stay in my own bed than repeat the experience in a Dublin A&E. The horrendous part of it is that while in hospital I was surrounded by all these poor old codgers who were past their best before, and were basically dying in these dirty overcrowded hospitals. A terrible ignominy for people who worked all their lives for this State. Most people, unfortunately, wont realise how bad it is until they are in a similar situation at the end of their days.

Again, I stress, I don't blame the doctors or nurses, I blame the system.

I actually agree with you.

I remember having to bring my dad to Tallaght A+E about 2 years ago. he was ill and all I was thinking was "oh jesus, this is gonna be a hell of a wait".

I don't know what the alternative is. A GP on a housecall can't deal with an awful lot of serious stuff/severe pain, but I'm with you...I'd rather take my chances than wait 7 hours to be seen.

Wishbone Ash

AmcD wrote: »

If somebody is left waiting hours after requesting a housecall, it usually because the two GPs are doing a list of calls. These might include the following:
A healthy woman in her 40s with a kidney infection
A woman in her 70s who is looking for a prescription for medication "in case I get pain overnight"
A man in his 30s who developed a headcold/flu at 5pm and rings for a housecall at 6pm
All these are true housecall requests, but details kept vague for obvious reasons.

Are the calls not prioritised?

The reason I ask is that I've brought my daughter to the DDOC 'out of hours' service in Swords a few times (great service BTW). Anytime we made an appointment we were asked a comprehensive list of questions about the nature of the problem etc. before leaving the house or being given an appointment time. Surely anyone requesting a home visit would be questioned even more thoroughly? And would the fairly 'lame' cases above not be put to the end of a queue?

January

According to the nurse on the phone they are prioritised...

Unless it's a first come, first served basis and she was just bulling out of her...

AmcD

If there are a number of housecalls that all look pretty non-urgent (vast majority), then it is first come, first served. However, if a call comes in that sounds actually urgent, the car is phoned and usually diverts. It can take a lot of time to work down the list as North County Dublin is spread over quite a large area. People often start ringing DDoc to complain, if they think we are taking too long.

I think the main problem is that so many housecalls are requested. Part of the problem is that triage is done by nurses, rather than doctors. The nurses work from protocols, so if someone says they have chest pain, they are given priority. A doctor would have more leeway to get a more detailed history and maybe could decide that the chest pain is non cardiac and then give the call a lesser priority. I worked for NEDOC, where doctors do the triage. Most of the resulting housecalls were to sick elderly people.

Another problem is that when a service is free, it is abused. So far I have done one single private housecall. It was so unexpected that I had the check what fee to charge. That is not to say that people with medical cards shouldn't get housecalls- they are usually sicker, or elderly and have more need of housecalls. But I do get a little annoyed at going to a young person's house, with the drive full of cars and the patient inside having a smoke watching Corrie.