I spent 7 months in an isolated part of New Zealand and only twice (on one
in 5 and busy+++) did a home visit. Both of these were for my convenience
as they were on the way. Patients paid!! Oh and you didn't visit the dead
the undertaker brought them or they didn't need to be seen after death.
John Charlton.
Derby (still undefeated at home).
----------
> From: Andrew Herd <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Home Visits
> Date: 03 February 1998 22:12
>
> Denis Pereira Gray made this point some years ago. It is correct, but the
> problem is that it isn't compatible with modern general practice. Twenty
> years ago, fewer people saw their own GP, and the volume of total
contacts
> was much lower. Now, the total volume of contacts is up, and something
has
> to give. A home visit is about the least efficient way of givng care that
I
> know of, since you can do 3-6 surgery appointments in the same time. They
> made some kind of sense in the days when only the GP had transport, but
> nowadays very few people can't get down; perhaps the very old, the
> terminally ill (and to quote one of my local colleagues) the dead.
>
> I often think of a retired friend of mine, who once went an entire year
in
> the fifties, working a one in two, without ever getting out of bed after
ten
> p.m. He makes the point that people got just as ill in those days.
>
> Andrew
>
> Dr. Andrew N. Herd MRCGP [log in to unmask]
> Family Physician, Medical Adviser to Durham Health Authority
> Lecturer in Primary Care, Durham University
> Medical Editor, Practice Computing
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Durham <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 31 January 1998 10:45
> Subject: Re: Home Visits
>
>
> >Home visits nust be a good way of finding out about patients lifestyles
and
> >domestic arrangements - first time round, anyway. I'm not saying its any
> fun
> >to be called out for the nth time to some hypochondriac but I'd have
> thought
> >in many cases it was easier to treat a patient knowing something about
what
> >their home backgrounds. Or not?
>
>
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