GP Home Visits

Jellybaby_1 · 27-05-2023 11:34pm #1

I bring an elderly relative (90's) to her GP. She says the GP doesn't do home visits. My relative is quite frail and it's a struggle getting her there. Sometimes it's just a check up at the end of her prescription to see if there is any change needed, not necessarily anything urgent. Is it true that GP's don't visit homes any more? She has a medical card so if I could get a GP out to her it would be covered wouldn't it? I've been told that some GP's charge for home visits.

28-05-2023 1:45am

I guess all you can do is ask her GP if they provide the service, and if there is a charge for it.

It will differ from practice to practice.

AFAIK, my surgery can arrange a locum to do a home visit, in very exceptional circumstances only, and they charge €100 for this, (including medical card patients) paid directly to the locum.

Deeec · 28-05-2023 6:03am

Best to ring her GP and ask.

My own GP practice don't do home visits anymore. My heart goes out to the elderly or anyone with issues that make it hard to attend appointments - they are left really vulnerable and I expect many just give up and don't attend. It's also another reason why we have a hospital beds problem in this country.

maninasia · 28-05-2023 7:29am

Ridiculous how bad the primary health service has gotten. Ring the GP?

Some GPs don't even take phone calls.

Lucky even to be able see a GP at this stage.

Dempo1 · 28-05-2023 8:43am

I'm sorry about your elderly relatives condition but it's over 20 years since GP'S offered home visits and only a handful still do & very reluctantly. Home care was supposed to take over the necessity for GP'S to do home visits.

Jellybaby_1 · 28-05-2023 11:00am

Thanks everyone. Seems it's normal now to ignore the elderly who prefer to live in their homes and not rely on nursing homes. I'll see what can be done.

28-05-2023 11:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120649160#Comment_120649160

I always have to email my GP practice for everything. It does work , but there’s no such thing as phoning. Goes to voicemail. You might eventually get a callback for appointment, you might miss that call if you pop into the shower etc, it’s much quicker by email, the way they want you to do it.

My practice don’t do house calls full stop. The only way I know that GPs do them these days is to nursing homes where they see a number of people at the same time. Have heard of exceptional cases where a living will call to a bedridden elderly person being cared for at home. It’s really very difficult when caring for a frail elderly person.

TooTired123 · 28-05-2023 5:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120649688#Comment_120649688

GPs are working 12 hour days just to see the patients in surgery. It’s definitely not their fault that there’s a chronic shortage. Speak with the PHN to see what can be done alternatively.

Strumms · 28-05-2023 6:08pm

yes I’d disagree that they are being ignored. They simply have too many patients / too few GPs

if they spend 15 minutes to get from their desk to the patients door, a 20 minute consultation and checkup and 15 minutes again to get back..

thats about 50 minutes…. Time to update their patients file with the notes of the consultation. That’s about an hour out of their day for one patient… a doctor working 9-5… Ballpark 15 % of their ‘standard’ working hours that day just for one person….. it’s an aging population, a shortage of GPs so there isn’t really scope for certain demographics of citizens demanding home call outs / consultations.

I’ve a neighbour in his ‘90’s who has his son just drive him to his appointment …his son is around 70…. The mobility of the 90+ year old is seriously poor but the country has lost sight of helping anyone with a disability or medical challenges… in more ways then just home consultations.

Jellybaby_1 · 28-05-2023 6:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120651400#Comment_120651400

Yes indeed, I am aware of the overworked GP surgeries, it's on TV regularly. But I do notice a difference. Years before Covid and the recent GP shortages, in my own GP's waiting room I could have been sitting for hours with 20+ people, some standing in the hall. Many times I saw patients leave out of frustration, some elderly, some had to get to work. There weren't complaints at that time about overworked GP's or a lack of them. Nowadays in my GP's surgery I might wait 10-20 mins max with about six other patients, some of whom will be attending a second GP or the nurse in other rooms so it looks like they are managing their lists by not answering the phones and also spreading the appointments out. I know what its like in a very busy office with switchboards lighting up, I used to work in a busy office, but I'd have been in trouble if I'd ignored any calls coming in. Different of course these days. In my relative's GP waiting room, it's hard to accept that it took up to three days ringing the surgery just to get an answer. Yet while sitting in the waiting room we have to watch two receptionists chatting (we can hear so it's not medical), with no sound of phones ringing, which I assume have been set to silent. It's just hard to take when your in your 90's and struggling.

28-05-2023 9:50pm

I don't agree that the elderly are being ignored.

I'm in my fifties and have been attending the same surgery since I was a child. Everything changed once covid happened and I personally feel my surgery took advantage of it to change how they operate.

Pre-covid, you could call and get a face-to-fact appt within 2 days. Since covid, its phone consultations only - and it takes two weeks to get one of those, and they won't see you without a phone consultation first. No surgery email. No Zoom or video-call (which would even be a help and takes no longer than a phone call). And everytime you do call, and query the waiting time for an appointment you're told "we have to prioritise the elderly!"

Now, I appreciate this is most likely just a line to fob people off. But its definitely not just the elderly having a hard time seeing a GP. Let alone a home visit!

GP Home Visits

Comments