Largs Medical Group (LMG) has a high proportion of elderly or terminally ill patients, many of whom are housebound and thus may require Home Visits. To ensure an equitable and accessible service for all our patients, we have developed a definition of housebound which encourages people, who are able, to attend LMG for their appointments and to limit the use of home visits.
Definition of Housebound
Patients are eligible for home visits for routine treatment only when a patient is unable to leave their home due to physical or psychological illness. Home visit appointments take considerably longer and reduce other available appointments within LMG.
An individual will not be eligible for a home visit if they are able to leave their home environment on their own or with assistance to visit social/ recreational/ public services (including shopping, meals out, hairdressers etc). Wherever possible patients are encouraged to attend Largs Medical Group for their care.
Home Visits should not be requested in place of transport to the practice. If the patient is capable of leaving the house with support from family/friends/carers a face to face appointment within LMG should be booked.
Principles
- Ultimate responsibility to determine whether a patient requires a home visit rests with the assessing clinician.
- Each patient’s eligibility for home visits will be individually determined.
- Patients assessed as not meeting the criteria for housebound will be expected to attend Largs Medical Group.
- Individual circumstances will be monitored and where an individual and/or clinician assesses that the patient’s needs have changed due to either an acute onset of illness or gradual deterioration in their conditions, the patient’s housebound status will be reviewed.
Requesting a Home Visit Appointment
All requests for Home Visits must be telephoned into LMG on 01475 674545 by 10.30am. If your request for a home visit is not received by 10.30am, or is not urgent, you will receive a home visit appointment for an alternative day.
Home visits are at the discretion of the GP and they may contact you, or your representative, via telephone to ascertain if the home visit is clinically necessary. The medical administration team will ask for relevant information as to why you require a house visit which will be passed to the assessing clinician.