Back in the day doctors used to come to your house and do house visits. Do you remember the doctor coming to your house? I'm talking a GP not an emergency response doctor

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Dull_Banana5349@reddit

I remember our local GP coming out when I was about 6. Mum still tells the story. I'd been to see the GP in the morning with an ear ache, it was a locum who brushed it off as nothing. Went home fell asleep on the settee and have a vague memory of our lovely family doctor coming to the house to check me over. Apparently my temperature had spiked and I was hallucinating. I had regular ear infections as a kid, rarely complained as I got used to the pain, so mum had known it was serious because I complained of ear ache that morning.

I also called the doctor out for my husband one night, years and years ago. We thought he was having an asthma attack but it was a panic attack. I'd never seen him have one before.

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InevitableShower5975@reddit

My little sister used to struggle with tonsillitis as a kid. In the mid 90s mum had taken her to the GP as she was unwell with it again (maybe something else mind). Later that day he turned up at the house because he'd been worried about her and perhaps something hadn't sat right with him after the appointment, he felt like he needed to just come and check on her in his way home after the surgery closed. Patient care doesn't seem to be what it used to be.

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kalendral_42@reddit

My GP broke into the Drs office for me when I was a kid. I was away staying with my dad for a couple of weeks when I had an accident & the hospital I was at urgently needed some medical history, unsurprisingly dad had no idea, & as I was only 7/8 neither did I. So they called my GP somehow & as it was practically the middle of the night the surgery was all locked up, so he broke into to get them the info they needed.

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Marvel--Jesus@reddit

Yes. The villiage GP would come to my house as a child in the early 70's.

I had tonsilitis, scarlet fever & German measles. (not all at once)

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Inevitable_Thing_270@reddit

I can remember the doctor coming out overnight to see me a couple of times when I was little (croup every time). But it would have been late 80s.

I know back then that the practices still covered their patients at night back then, whereas now out of hours is covered by GPs that are more centralised and cover a much wider area.

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Hippymam@reddit

I had the chickenpox, followed by the measles, when I was about five years old. I was very poorly and the doctor visited me twice a day at home. He wanted me to go into hospital but I got very upset at the idea and so I was visited twice a day instead.

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SufficientOpening218@reddit

never has a doctor in the United States come to a house. bedbound people are picked up in an ambulance and taken to an emergency room, or a scheduled doctors appointment, no matter how much more it costs. or if it bankrupts the family.( literally)

GB has it right. so humane.

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qgwheurbwb1i@reddit

Yes! The GP came to see my dad when he was poorly when I was a kid. I followed the doctor around like a shadow because I was amazed the doctor was in my house haha.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Not since I was about 3 personally but that was donks ago. I did have the district nurse out more recently. (I could have been taken into the surgery as a child but I had measles and with very infectious diseases, they wanted me in isolation).

However when my Dad was housebound and dying about 2 years ago, the doctor was a regular vistitor though more often the nurse practioner. They still do home visits and are thorough but if they can do a telephone one that is preferable.

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Isthismee@reddit

Yeah, one came when I had a bad asthma attack as a kid. About 35yrs ago. Once (80s) a GP came to see my cousin who was visiting from Spain, he wasnt registered at GPs or even resident in the country!

The other day I overheard an old man saying to receptionist that in the 50s you could walk into the GPs and be seen, you didnt even need an appointment. How things have changed.

Edit: when my dad was very ill in 2016, my mum called the surgery every day for a week. The GP wouldn't come to see him. That Saturday morning, he died at home. The police came round and stayed all day because apparently it was an 'unexpected death'.

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TillyTeckel@reddit

I remember having tonsilitis as a kid and lying on the sofa waiting for the doctor to visit. I got bored and went into the garden to play. When the doctor arrived I was playing at 'explorers', climbing the pile of coal in the coal shed. My nan was not impressed that she had to present a very sooty child to the doctor.

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Fine_Cress_649@reddit

Am a GP

I do about 1 or 2 home visits most days. Usually only to people who are too frail or disabled to get to the surgery

It takes about 4x as long to do a visit than a normal appointment in the surgery, so that's why we don't do more.

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SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit (OP)

Yes we absolutely could have gotten off our butts and went to the surgery back then but I guess with the population being lower and the NHS better funded, it was doable but then it became impossible so that's why we don't do it now.

It's nice memories to have though, I remember feeling quite important that a doctor was in my house!

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Daveddozey@reddit

NHS had less funding back in the 80s, adjusting for real terms per head and gdp.

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SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit (OP)

More people seek treatment for things now than they did then though. So while the per head amount is lower now, a large % are actually using that per head amount or more where as less people were actually seeking assessments and treatments in the past.

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GingerSnapBiscuit@reddit

Its not just that. There is a FAR larger older population now than there was 20/30/40 years ago. So many more people are living into their 80s/90s than used to and it puts a strain on everything. People love blaming immigrants for all these issues but the largest growing population slice in the last 40 years has been pensioners.

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Nice_Back_9977@reddit

And they shouldn’t be ‘blamed’ either!

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GingerSnapBiscuit@reddit

No, its not the "fault" of old people that they are living longer, but obviously it places a higher burden on current tax payers, medical systems, support systems etc etc. People just don't seem to take this into account when talking about the government.

Like for example people love to call out that one of the biggest chunks of spending the government does is on "Benefits, Pensions and Social Services" but fail to understand that its not benefit scroungers who make up the VAST majority of this, but pension payments.

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Necessary-Crazy-7103@reddit

So back when the baby boomers were working and not old with chronic comorbidities?

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Fine_Cress_649@reddit

Problem is everything is more complex (and expensive) now. The population is older, and with old age comes various chronic and acute illnesses that need tests and treatment and management and monitoring. CT scans used to be almost unheard of and would take months to happen and be reported - now if I'm working in A&E I can usually get one in minutes or hours. There are new (and sometimes expensive) treatments coming through all the time - monoclonal antibodies, immunotherapy, new anti-diabetic drugs like the GLP-1 agonists.

All of that costs money.

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re_Claire@reddit

As someone who has just started a GLP-1 (Mounjaro) that was recommended by my doctor (but I have to pay for it as my BMI didn't fit the criteria) I also think there's an element of kicking the can down the road. I have PCOS and the NHS actually recognises it effective for PCOS. PCOS is a metabolic and hormonal disorder involving insulin resistance, and as adipose tissue is a hormonal organ, we simultaneously need to keep our weight lower to manage it, and are usually unable to do so on a long term basis.

If the NHS not only funded GLP-1s for a much wider range of people but also provided support for those using them, it would probably save a lot of money in the long run for obesity related conditions from heart disease to cancer, as well as metabolic disorders. But it's a huge cost up front that they simply cannot afford. I suspect this is true for a lot of the NHS funding. Prevention is better than cure but if all you can afford is to treat things as they arise, then you're kind of locked into ignoring the prevention element.

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Fine_Cress_649@reddit

But it's a huge cost up front that they simply cannot afford. I suspect this is true for a lot of the NHS funding.

Yeah the NHS is terrible at funding preventative healthcare.

Apart from vaccines. And the screening programmes for bowel cancer. Oh and the one for breast cancer. Cervical cancer too.

Apart from those, terrible.

Oh and the antenatal and newborn screening programme. Oh and most type 2 diabetes care which is aimed at preventing complications. Actually health visitors too. .

Apart from that.

Oh and PREP. Oh yeah and statins, and hypertension management.

Which is to say.... there are people who devote their careers to proving the benefit of and expanding access to preventative healthcare in the NHS. Eventually I think GLP1s will be more widely available once their long-term benefit becomes more clear and they come off patent (and are therefore cheaper).

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AirlineSevere7456@reddit

Yep they do it in the afternoons when I was a kid. Saved a load of aggro going to the surgery and passing you illness to loads of people.

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fishfingerchipbean@reddit

I remember the GP very kindly coming round unrequested and unannounced to check on me when I had measles as a child as he happened to be in the area.

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apeliott@reddit

Yes. I remember him coming when I had chickenpox. Had his doctor's bag as well. He was in the same golf club as my father I remember.

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Foreign-Anything7740@reddit

Mine came out when I got chicken pox and a cold, I was coughing and it felt like my head was going to explode.. I think I was 6 and I still remember the pain, got a jab and fell asleep. That was 50 years ago.

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bacon_cake@reddit

^(time to wake up wake up wake up it's 1976 and it's a sunny April day)

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CarpeCyprinidae@reddit

Put on red shirt, blue shorts, high socks, brown leather shoes, pick up a cap gun, go charging out the door, only to get punched in the face by Gene Hunt and fly back in through the door and land on your back

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Infinity_Flounder@reddit

My mum tells me a story about when i was a wee baby. I was crying about something a lot, like full bellows going. Called the night Doc to come. He got to the door and told her that im fine, without even seeing me. 'If he can yell that loud, hes pretty healthy' and left.

i was fine.

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a-liquid-sky@reddit

They still do home visits. But generally now it's only for people who are unable to leave the house due to infirmity or disability.

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AffectionateJump7896@reddit

Technically true. Have you actually seen, with your own eyes, an NHS GP do a home visit in the last decade.

In practice there is a vanishingly small line between "we have no appointments, call at 8am tomorrow, or come in for this time", and "well if you can't come in, and really need medical care, call an ambulance".

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blueroses8000@reddit

Yes I’ve seen it with my own eyes in the last 10 years.

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GingerSnapBiscuit@reddit

Are you just going to tell everyone telling you yes that they are wrong?

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

Yes. I have seen with my own eyes a local GP visit various unwell and elderly people in my town.

Your experience is not everyone’s experience.

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blinky84@reddit

I've seen three grandparents have at home GP visits in the past decade, if that helps?

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Additional_Pea_4873@reddit

I saw with my own eyes a GP in my own front room at 2am. I had a two day old baby, called 111 who sent an ambulance, who arranged for the out of hours GP. It certainly exists as a service, although not to the extent that we used to have home visits.

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Etheria_system@reddit

Yes I have. My GP has been to my home twice this year alone alongside 3 telephone appointments that I booked quickly and easily through the online booking system.

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Snoo_said_no@reddit

Yep - lots. But then I'm a social worker and work with many people who are unable to leave the house/bed or have severe LD, profound autism, severe anxiety. Trying to take them into an unfamiliar gp surgery would result in severe distressed or challenging behaviour. A GP visiting them in their usually supported living scheme, sometimes with a practice nurse or district nurse if they also need blood tests.

To get on the home visit list there does need to be a genuine reason why they can't go to the surgery. But most surgeries are pretty accomoding if there's a genuine reason. They also squeeze in many of my more able or at least mobile clients who self present at the surgery with no appointment. (If their learning disability is such that they really can't manage making and remembering and turning up on time to their appointment or their speech is such that they can't be understood on the phone). This is usually after missed appointments. Not being able to read, write,tell time&date,speak on the phone is a real barrier to health care. Social services and the carers/support workers involved also do everything they can to help them attend regular appointments in the usual way.

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bfp@reddit

yeah my FIL did in past decade of thereabouts

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just-visiting-3955@reddit

I married into a BRCA2 cancer cluster and can confirm GPs go home visits, both scheduled and emergencies. My house has probably had lots and lots of people’s share of visits. I’ve not had a home visit personally. For regular checkups it’s often the phone or laptop, and a delegated person coming in person (nurse or paramedics)

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Vickyinredditland@reddit

My dad's GP came out to him a few times when he was bed bound with terminal cancer. They aren't coming out for kids with tonsillitis any more, but they are still doing home visits where necessary.

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Ok-Lack4735@reddit

I worn in a GP surgery and we have a "visiting doctor" every day... I'd say we average 5-15 home visits.

Patients who are housebound still need gp-level care which usually includes management of chronic conditions, support, end of life discussions, medication management, caring support etc - and none of that is appropriate for the ambulance service.

We also have a separate booking system for patients in care homes who are registered with us, so you can probably triple my estimate if you include those patients.

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UnCommonSense99@reddit

I know a GP, and she does several home visits a week. Mostly to patients in nursing homes.

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snarkmaiden5@reddit

Yep they still do for housebound, elderly. Maybe only for more serious cases though. And usually its the same day unless they were called late on

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Ultra_Leopard@reddit

When I was a district nurse I saw it with my own eyes a ton. Always people who couldn't get to the surgery- elderly, disabled, palliative. This was about 5 years ago before I left district nursing.

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UniversityPotential7@reddit

Yes I have. I was a GP receptionist right before lockdown and they used to regularly do home visits alongside the care home visits.

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CellistLow8857@reddit

I haven’t “seen it with my own eyes” because I’m not elderly or disabled or otherwise unable to leave my home, but GPs absolutely do make house calls for these patients sometimes… I know several GPs who all make house calls (unless they’re lying to me?!) and my FIL had a GP come out and do a house call when he was bedbound.

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amytee252@reddit

True, but do they do them in the night too? I remember doctor's visits around/after midnight.

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speedboat_jacket46@reddit

They do, usually in specific circumstances.

My mum had a debilitating Menieres attack. She couldn’t stand unaided even to go to the bathroom, and couldn’t keep her medicine down. I was 15 so couldn’t drive, but even if I could there was no way she could’ve sat in a waiting room.

After a battle with NHS24, GP came out and injected her medicine, thankfully.

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Additional_Pea_4873@reddit

I had an out of hours GP visit me the night after I came home from having my first baby. Paramedics came out first, then organised for GP to prescribe/ bring medication- was about 2am when he turned up. It would have been a&e but as I had a 2 day old baby, they came to me. So it can be done.

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TWLemonadeBanana@reddit

There's usually a night GP available, I've both taken people to see them and they visited my Grandad multiple times in the night in the weeks before he died.

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Traditional_Way3946@reddit

I remember home visits back in the good old days! I had to do an econsult to my GP this week, I had a call back within an hour was told reception will b in touch to get me to see someone. The call never came. I called the surgery, was tols Im on a waiting list for a routine appointment within 2 weeks"!! Thing is I think I may have cancer of the jaw bone (mayb Im overthinking my problem) but two weeks is a bloody long time ... !

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Over-Language2599@reddit

Yes I had one visit my mother a couple of years ago. I sent the doctor an email with a query about her health and he came round that afternoon.

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ALearnedProfessional@reddit

My Gp visited me twice in recent months, when I was bed bound. I didnt think it was a thing anymore, and was pleasantly surprised

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TwaddleSpouter@reddit

Yes! If you were “in bed” ill, then the Dr always came to the house. The local surgery had about 8 GP’s and they all did clinic in the morning and rounds in the afternoon. District nurses too. Makes you realise how underfunded the NHS is now!

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lookhereisay@reddit

We had a very nice GP visit when we both had Covid and then my 7 month old got Covid too and ringworm and another mysterious rash. We were too germy to come in so he came to our house.

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MelodicAd2213@reddit

I had dr come out to me in my twenties. I had a massive migraine and was throwing up copiously in the morning before work. I had gone back to work the day before after having time off for flu. I hadn’t consumed alcohol the night before either.

My mum was so concerned she called the dr and requested a home call

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KezzyKesKes@reddit

Yes. My brother had measles and was thrashing about on the sofa due to a high temperature and hallucinations.

As such the doctor was called to make a house call.

For some reason mum seemed to think it was fine to continue sending me to school while my younger brother had a highly contagious disease.

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bennythefish@reddit

You have to be invalid or a child now . The only time I saw a Gp was when I was a child .

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DeAuTh1511@reddit

I feel like cities are too dense now. Everybody keeps going on about building more houses, but more houses rarely come with GP surgeries, hospitals, dentists, places of work, more roads, etc.

Combined with stagnating wages, GPs are probably overworked and underpaid. Like most people I guess.

I can imagine today a GPs work day is just back-to-back-to-back patients nonstop, whereas back in the day they'd probably have a couple of empty appointment slots every day. An inhome visit is probably a gigantic negative impact on a number of other patients. That's another thing to add to their stress, weighing up the decision of an inhome visit and ultimately deciding which patient(s) get harmed in exchange for the other(s).

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bopper71@reddit

Exactly the same. The banana medicine was always the best one tasted good! Yup that’s the good old days! Dr to my house and he used to have tea and gossip with mum! 😆

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fr3yababii33@reddit

I’ve had a doctor come out once, that I can remember. It was maybe a week after I had my daughter. Midwife etc was over doing a check and had concerns so called the doctor. This was in 2021. Can’t recall a doctor ever coming to see me otherwise. My terminally ill dad had doctors come as he was completely bed bound in 2005. And doctors come to see my fil who I can’t get to the surgery.

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IndividualCurious322@reddit

Yes. I've had a GP visit back when I was a teenager and was agrophobic.

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vinpetrol@reddit

Wow! Your experience almost exactly matches mine. I'm old (58) so this was my experience about 50 years ago. My parents had asked if I was fit enough to go the local Health Centre but I decided I wasn't. Apparently the doctor did later declare it one of the worst cases of childhood tonsillitis he had ever seen, so there was that. I can't remember the flavour of the medicine though. I used to get tonsillitis every year or so during my childhood. Nasty illness. I actually used to get feverish and delirious during the night with it :-(

There used to be a poster up in the Health Centre saying something like "In the time a doctor does one home visit they could do four appointments here. Do you really need a home visit?"

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SpaceTimeCapsule89@reddit (OP)

I'm 37 and was plagued with it as a child too. I've also had it as an adult 4/5 times, last year being the most recent. I never got my tonsils out and I don't know why. I think you need to be having it more than once a year or every other year?

I remember it so well because I couldn't even swallow water or talk. I was imagining things on the walls and really scared so my mum decided enough was enough and called the surgery for the GP to come.

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Alternative-Bee2962@reddit

I can remember a GP coming out in the night when I was little back in the 80's and I had whooping cough and I can remember him being really nice and him reassuring my mum but not much else. But according to my mum I was only about 4 at the time and she was surprised I could remember that and she said he was the out of hours GP from our doctors surgery.

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ThisIsProbablyFine1@reddit

Yeah they did in rural areas

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Iwannahumpalittle@reddit

I rememember one time (30 years ago ++) the doctor came to our house when my brother was sick, and our dog ate alot of the stuff in the doctors bag (he left it open). It was mostly paracetamol. But still. What the hell made her do it? She (the dog) was fine. And my brother too btw

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covertjules@reddit

Yes, when I was about 8. The GP then phoned an ambulance as they suspected I had gastroenteritis. That was over 30 years ago now though, and I think even then it was always exceptional cases where they'd come out.

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Future_Direction5174@reddit

Doctor came to my house 1995(?) as I was in severe pain in my lower right abdomen. He diagnosed me with “suspected inflamed appendix” and told my husband to call an ambulance. My IUD had perforated my womb, but as they had cut me open to remove my appendix they removed it anyway. I was in my 30’s.

So yes, I remember home visits.

But I know that our local GP still does home visits as I took my MIL to the clinic for blood tests last October and he was running late. When we eventually got in to see him, he apologised the wait and explained that he had had to make an emergency home visit, hence the delay.

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yourefunny@reddit

I do remember that when my Mum and Gran were ill. They still do. Usually over lunch. Hence you can't get appointments from 11.30-2pm at my local surgery.

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KingkLou@reddit

I remember a GP coming to visit my at home in the 90s at nighttime because I had a fever or something, I was maybe about 8 years old. He also had a black leather 'doctors bag' like I had in my play kit that I was very impressed with.

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sparkingsocket@reddit

Absolutely. My brother and I had chicken pox. The doctor came to us. 1940's

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Aromatic_Lettuce5603@reddit

Yep definitely remember. Do you also remember you had a family dr who done everything? Nowadays you need to see about 20 different drs coz they all specialise in something rather then family dr who did everything. Always the banana flavour or strawberry flavour antibiotic liquid

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decobelle@reddit

Or with the GP it won't even be that you see a different person each time because they have difference specialisms, but just that they have multiple GPs and you see whoever happens to be available rather than the same person each time.

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d3gu@reddit

You don't have the option to ask for a specific person?

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bacon_cake@reddit

I think most surgeries will let you but if they've got 3 permanent GPs and the rest locum and 15k patients to manage odds are you aren't getting in any time soon.

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Etheria_system@reddit

You can normally ask to see the same GP if it’s for routine things that aren’t urgent. I only see one GP and she manages everything - and I have a lot of different conditions.

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Williamishere69@reddit

My GP practice still runs with a designated GP. Of my GP is available, Ill only see him.

There was twice recently where I didnt see him. Once was for an OOHs appointment on a Saturday, and one was a phone call for a different antibiotic because my GP doesnt work Tuesdays.

I think it honestly depends on your GP practice. Mine is absolutely lovely

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himit@reddit

yeah, people ask "Who's your GP?" and I shrug. I have a named one in the system but no idea if he even works there anymore, or if I've seen him!

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d3gu@reddit

I'm 38 years old, moved to a different city for uni, and I've had the same GP since I was 18. You've just got to find the right practise.

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SuzLouA@reddit

This one is a postcode lottery unfortunately, or at least that is what my own anecdotal experience suggests.

I moved when I was 16 and my mum never reregistered us with a local GP, so didn’t have one until I registered myself when I was in my early twenties. For the next twenty years I didn’t have a specific GP, just whoever was available, so I always assumed it was just that kids had specific GPs and adults didn’t.

By the time I was pregnant with our first, we were able to move to a nicer area, and husband and I registered with the GP - receptionist explicitly told us, I’m going to put you both under Dr [Name], so he’ll be your family doctor. It could have been related to the fact that I was pregnant, I suppose, and therefore a child would be in the picture, but he hadn’t been born yet, and I didn’t actually meet our doctor for anything until I went for the 6 week checkup after I gave birth. That guy is still our GP, and deals with our whole family’s medical problems. Funnily enough, the only time we saw a different doctor actually was for one of the kids - she was only a few months old, though, so I assume that was probably a question of triage and the fact that they don’t make babies wait for appointments.

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NecroVelcro@reddit

A GP nearly killed me with that in the late '70s. He misdiagnosed my Type 1 diabetes as an infection and prescribed sugary antibiotic syrup.

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Aaaahfuckit@reddit

Oh, so it's YOUR fault all kids medication is sugar free now! Mary Poppins said a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, she should have added "🎵 unless you have diabetes 🎵"

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DECKTHEBALLZ@reddit

Mine still do if you can't come in.. (Glasgow)

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DangerousDisplay7664@reddit

The GP would do house visits if you were too ill to attend the GP surgery.

This is still the case today.

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GuybrushFunkwood@reddit

I do I also remember him stood in the kitchen having a fag with my dad talking about my asthma … it was a different time in the 80s …

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Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit

My doctors surgery was also his home and he had two beautiful ( but vicious) Persian cats that sat across his desk. Not good for people with asthma or allergies. I adore cats, but when he passed you a prescription, one of the cats would whack you with an ( unsheathed) paw on your hand… He did do house visits though ( without the kitties)…

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_poptart@reddit

I love this - but can you imagine a patient sat there wheezing and the doctor asks “What seems to be the matter?”

“Well Doctor, I’ve run out of medication for my terrible allergy to cat fur and -“

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Lettuce1939@reddit

🤣🤣

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Weak_Top_3464@reddit

I up until 3 years had the same GP that I had since I was 9. He would come out to the house, he saw me through both my pregnancies and I could call him on a Monday and get an appt the next day. Now it's all Anima and same day appts which are really unhelpful. On a positive I really don't mind a telephone appt, who wants to sit in a waiting room feeling ill.

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brit_parent@reddit

I had a home visit from the GP. It was 1981 and I was 5. She spent about 5 seconds with me and called an ambulance. I had meningitis.

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husky_punk@reddit

About 13 years ago I sneezed and threw my upper neck out to the point that the next morning i couldn't move, my ex-wife rang the Drs and around lunch time, my GP came to the house and prescribed Valium as it was my entire neck muscle on the left-hand side that was spasming severely. Other than that I can't remember any of my GP's every doing a home visit to me

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DrBob2016@reddit

Yes, Dr Ormerod, he'd arrive with his black bag, out came the stethoscope to check your breathing, a thermometer placed under your tongue (which you tried your best not to bite) followed by a pulse check by holding your wrist and timing with his watch.

Then either leave you some pills or give your mum a hand written prescription in indecipherable code. Think it was something like two weeks off school for Measles or Chicken Pox and Calamine lotion for the itchy spots.

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DrBob2016@reddit

Yes, Dr Ormerod, he'd arrive with his black bag, out came the stethoscope to check your breathing, followed by a pulse check by holding your wrist and timing with his watch. Then either leave you some pills or a hand written prescription in indecipherable code. Think it was something like two weeks off school for Measles or Chicken Pox and Calamine lotion for the itchy spots.

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dismaldunc@reddit

i was a chronic poorly kid, our GP used to turn up in the middle of the night in his stripey pajamas. my mum said "he was a lovely Doctor but he would like to hold my bottom while he was talking to you" but that was how they rolled in the early 1960's (yes I am indeed a fossil) he smoked his pipe in my bedroom too.

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_kipling@reddit

I remember a Dr coming to see my big sister because she had an ear infection and her eardrum had perforated, that was back in the 80s.

My 4 year old has never physically been seen by a GP. All phone call appointments and asthma diagnosed by a nurse in a physical appointment 🤷‍♂️

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No-Sympathy-4103@reddit

I used to get awful earaches when I was a kid (born in the 90’s) and I remember the doctor coming to my house on a few occasions.

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Whoppa-seagull@reddit

I am 77 now but when I was a child the doctor would rush about tidying up saying the doctor is coming, he always came when we were ill . We knew him & his family back then . Everybody knew their doctor back then even their Christian names . Those were the days.

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MsFitzIsAMisfit@reddit

I can remember my parents taking me to a GP's house to treat my ear infection. I was about 5, I'm 50 now. My mum has since told me it was Christmas time and Dr had clearly had a glass or two of wine and he didn't want to leave his home, more because he just didn't want to go out rather than being worried about the amount he had drunk before driving

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Lettuce1939@reddit

It has taken me 5 months to get a nurse to come out to take my son’s blood tests that the dr wanted .. although my son is young he has agoraphobia and hasn’t left the house in 2 and half years .. I was told he’s too young and he’s not house bound so he can’t get a home visit !! I said having a mental illness that makes you not leave the house makes you house bound doesn’t it ??

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YchYFi@reddit

Gp comes to my mum's when she is poorly.

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Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit

Yes had one as a child, turns out I had pneumonia and ended up in intensive care in a coma for a week. Probably good that they came out to see me!

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Plus911uk@reddit

The problem now is the doctors are too lazy now,my mum worked as a doctors receptionist was a small village of day about 15 thousand people there were two doctors surgery’s all records were paper no computers the doctor would do a morning surgery then do morning rounds visiting any patients too ill to come in, he would then do a afternoon surgery then do evening rounds , this was 5 days a week but also did a few house visits over weekend as well, he always said he got well paid for it and made a comfortable living. He spent time with the patients listening to there problems not like doctors these days who hardly lift there heads and look at you

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AdaandFred@reddit

I had glandular fever when I was 12 that they came out for (I think because my mum told the receptionist she thought it might be mumps and they didn't want someone bringing that to the surgery) then a week or so later I got torticollis and could barely move so the GP came out again. She gave me some acupuncture that helped so much and probably told my mum to keep me topped up on paracetamol and ibuprofen.

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anabsentfriend@reddit

A doctor came out to me a few years back as I had agonising sudden pain in my back. It turned out to be Pyelonephritis. He did a urine test and prescribed some antibiotics that were massive. I was on the mend within a few days.

My current GP told me that she has a couple of sessions a week of house visits.

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OrbitingPlanetArse@reddit

My mother used to work in a doctor's surgery in the 1960s and would occasionally accompany one of the GPs on home visits.

It was about the time they started putting up tower blocks everywhere and her most abiding memory was how bare the rooms were. It wasn't so much that they didn't have furniture, but that they couldn't get it up in the building lift.

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hamstertoybox@reddit

I remember having one in the 80’s. I was having my lunch at the time so I can’t have been that ill.

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Ecstatic_Food1982@reddit

I remember having them, and having a duty doctor on call at an actual local surgery. I'm 44 so hardly ancient.

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itisnottherealme@reddit

Back in the 80s /90s, GPs were small independent private practices responsible for their own patch. They had to cover surgeries and non A&E out of hours - including nights and Christmas Day; out of hours emergencies entailed home visits; a large number of home visits then were for the dead and the dying (the GP had to sign the death certificate before the body could be removed).

The contracts then got changed allowing them to create out of hours cooperatives between practices with a rota for a dedicated out of hours doctor with duty drivers and flagging green lights - again for home visits but no longer with YOUR GP.

Now, the push is for centralised urgent care.

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Agitated_Parsnip_178@reddit

Yeah peoples recollections and understanding of what their provided has shifted so much.

They were set up to keep the populations blood pressure low, spot cancer, recommended abdominal surgery, treat chest infections, provide paediatric medicine etc.

Now, on the back of a shrinking workforce, aging population also arguably a more medically proactive/Google savvy one, they have the expectation of providing answers and referral to all manner of complaints.

Lots has changed in respect to mental health referral and triage, use of online diagnostic tools, polypharmacy, end of life planning, changing treatment guidelines, KPIs/QoF, lifestyle management, social prescribing, cosmetic procedures etc and loads more the public don't see see day to day.

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d3gu@reddit

My mum and dad were GPs - my dad got quite cynical towards the end of his career, and I heard a lot of this from him. He used to say that if everyone just stopped smoking and lost weight, his job would be so much easier. He wanted to be a doctor because he wanted to help people (like most medical people, I imagine) but got very disheartened with all the KPIs and box ticking and hoops and all the non-medical work. Whereas my mum seemed to really love the administrative/management side, she absolutely thrived as the role changed but my dad hated it.

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grokebomb@reddit

The local GP made plenty of visits to my Mam last year but she was too frail to get to the surgery herself.

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d3gu@reddit

My mum and dad were both GPs and did house visits - mum more than dad as she worked in an older/more affluent area, so lots of elderly folks, care homes, death certificates etc. I used to go on visits with her occasionally when I was off school, and sit in the car & read or play my Gameboy.

I've had 1 Dr visit myself as an adult - when I had swine flu.

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Etheria_system@reddit

I still have house visits. I’m housebound and unable to get to the surgery safely. Most of my appointments are by phone but anything that needs a physical examination is at home

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Wise-Recording-9726@reddit

Husband who has multiple health conditions fell and was admitted then discharged from hospital unable to move or get to the toilet. I could not lift him and was at the end of my tether.

Rang GP surgery and I admit to crying I was in such a state. GP visited next day. Arranged pain relief, some carer support, urgent OT referral and a truck load of extra stuff delivered including a hospital bed for downstairs and commode for the room as well as stair rail and grab rails. Incredible how much difference it made.

That was 18 months ago

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JennyW93@reddit

I’d imagine a fair bit of home visiting has been replaced by telehealth/video calling now, with the exception of folks who can’t use that method or who are housebound but do need a physical examination.

But yes, I remember the doc coming out when I was very little and had cyclic vomiting disorder. I think these days it’d be an A&E job because I was very tiny and extremely dehydrated and needed injections to stop the vomiting.

I got the disorder again as an adult and I could get an urgent GP appt to get the injections, but couldn’t get a home visit for it (I couldn’t actually get myself to the GP at that time so I just muscled through, but obviously that’s a safer risk as a grown up than it is as a tiny child)

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HopeSpringsHere@reddit

Yes! Banana medicine ❤️

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gemmajenkins2890@reddit

I’m 35, but I remember being about 6 or 7 and someone(can’t remember who) wasn’t very well and was in bed, and my mum just said casually ‘I’ll get the doctor to come out’.

Different times now…

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DangerousHorror2084@reddit

Can't get an appointment in 8 weeks now its sad

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scooches66@reddit

Not the GP coming to my house, but I went to his! My son was unwell over Christmas when he was a toddler. On Boxing Day he was so bad I rang for help. I was told to take him to an address nearby where the doctor would see him. Turned out to be the doctor's home! They were in the middle of cooking their lunch and I was offered a mince pie. After examining my son, I left with a prescription and a few more mince pies. They were all incredibly kind considering I was interrupting their festivities and I was extremely grateful to them. NHS at its very best, not sure it would happen now, this was 1991.

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FlippedHope@reddit

About 30 years ago I had an acute infected gall bladder flair up and a doctor on call out came to see me. All I can remember of it is that he offered me the choice of a painkiller either via an injection or tablets. I thought he said the tablets would take about four to five minutes to work so that's what I chose. Still in agony half an hour later my husband said that the doctor had actually said about 45 minutes. Ho hum. That's the last time anyone I know had a home visit. As a child in the late 50s early 60s it was quite normal to have a visit from our family gp when we had measles or whatever. They must have had a much smaller case load.

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catmadwoman@reddit

Our health service set out to be great and it was. I had regular visits as a child due to getting pneumonia quite a lot but one time, aged 9 (1954), I developed whooping cough pneumonia and collapsed lung so St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, visited me twice daily for two weeks treating me at first with penicillin not knowing I was allergic. I survived. Would a hospital do home visits today. I doubt it.

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buttersismantequilla@reddit

I remember that medicine! It wasn’t unpleasant! Never had a GP visit myself but our GP came out to see my husband after he fainted and hit the end of the bed about 10 years ago and broke all his ribs down one side - ended up he got stuck in the car and couldn’t get out. GP helped me get him out and into bed, diagnosed pleurisy and gave him a morphine shot!

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HmNotToday1308@reddit

My husband was blessed with a mother who is one of those people that believes everything she's told by people regardless of how absolutely fucking stupid it is and a GP who was as much of an idiot just with a degree. His mum called the neighbour, who called the GP, he told them that it was just a cold to put him to bed and he'd be fine in the morning. Thankfully the neighbour recognised the symptoms of meningitis... He almost died.

Mother in law actually continued to see that Dr until he retired

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Phenomenomix@reddit

My mum called one to come out when I was a kid, he was Asian and wouldn’t come into our house because we had a dog, which only helped to fuel my mother’s socially acceptable level of racism.

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Electrical-Cod5329@reddit

Yes what I had my daughter in 1997 the gp did a home visit after we were discharged from hospital. My FIL had a home visit last week but he is 89 with limited mobility and heart failure

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Munchkinpea@reddit

My husband is bed-bound so our GP visits him when necessary.

However, if she happens to be seeing someone else in the village (we're about 15 minutes from the town where our surgery is) she will text to see if it would be convenient for her to pop in and say Hi.

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FailTuringTest@reddit

I temporarily need daily follow-up after abdominal surgery, and just last week I was told that a district nurse could come out to my house for that if I were house-bound. But I am mobile, so I go to my GP surgery each day.

Makes sense of course from the point of view of the number of patients they can see each day since a home visit takes much longer!

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togtogtog@reddit

Oh yes. They would always have a very specific type of brown leather bag. They would come into your bedroom, take your temperature, look at your throat, listen to your chest with their stethoscope, and then write out a prescription and give it to your mum.

Much more comfy and sensible than taking you into a waiting room to give your germs to everyone else.

Nowadays, I hardly ever actually see a doctor. It's often not even a nurse. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful titles for the people I see, but usually it is just a computer screen, ordering repeat prescriptions online, filling out forms, or at most, a phone call. I guess I don't need to leave the house for those things anymore, so in that way it is like the old days.

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semicombobulated@reddit

I don’t remember home visits (and to be honest, to me it sounds like a huge waste of a GP’s time and resources) but I seem to remember that when I was a kid in the 90s you didn’t have to make an appointment, you just turned up, gave the receptionist your name, and waited your turn.

I also suspect that my GP was single-handedly responsible for the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria: every single visit to the surgery for any illness whatsoever resulted in a bottle of strawberry or banana flavoured amoxicillin.

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Sad_Cardiologist5388@reddit

Yes! I used to suffer from ear ache quite a bit and a GP came to my house one evening with this victorian looking syringe in a velvet lined case to syringe my ears in my kitchen. With would have been early 90s.

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Accurate-Ad9790@reddit

My Doctor had seen me during the day, then at night, a knock at the door as he was still worried about me, ending up sticking his finger up my backside and then sending me to the hospital, where I was diagnosed with a Kidney Disease. back in 1996

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No-Temperature-8696@reddit

Still do mine nan can't walk there come to her think u need to be housebound

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CaveJohnson82@reddit

I know that the doctor came when my newborn brother had whooping cough, and told mum and dad to take him straight to hospital (he was ok btw).

I also know he came another time when my sister was unwell although I don't remember the specifics.

Apparently he was also in attendance for a while at the same little brother's home birth.

Same doc all three times, early 90s I'd say?

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Lyrakish@reddit

I remember one coming to my mum when she had shingles. But we had a family doctor, two actually! One who left and then a new one.

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theawesomepurple@reddit

Yes lots of home visits after surgery.

I also went to the doctor’s house which was his private residence. Nothing like that these days.

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DameKumquat@reddit

Never when I was a kid, though when I was a student my dad put his back out and couldn't move, and a GP came round.

Had one come to me one night about 15 years ago when I was pregnant - I remember the spouse shouting down the phone to the out of hours GP who didn't seem to understand any medical terms, "are you actually a qualified doctor?" but luckily a different chap turned up who was lovely and competent.

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Appropriate-Bad-9379@reddit

Remember as a kid ( in the sixties), I had a massive , hard blister on the back of my heel. Doctor came out and told my mam to heat one if her darning needles in our coal fire, until it was red hot at the tip. He then stuck it into the blister to pop it. I was terrified. Obviously I was okay afterwards, but I don’t know if that was the best treatment ( antibiotics were available by then). Doctor was very old at the time …

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EllebumbleB@reddit

My doctor (Dr Golightly, lovely man) visited me at my bedside when I had tonsillitis. This was over 30 years ago. It is thankfully rare that I need a Dr's appointment, but last time I couldn't even get through on the phone. It was engaged for ages before I gave up & went to the surgery.

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fififolle79@reddit

Random thought: I do wonder if the increase of cars has helped. Back when people had to walk or take the bus to the surgery that would be impossible if you’re truly sick but taking a sick child for example in the car is fairly straightforward.

I only once had a house call from a regular GP when I had glandular fever and really couldn’t walk down stairs safely and my throat was almost blocked (they didn’t send me to hospital though). Twice I’ve had an out of hours GP visit the house when I developed a post caesarean infection. Again wasn’t safe to travel but not quite hospitalisation level.

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ki5aca@reddit

My sister cannot physically leave her bed as she’s severely disabled, so the GP has to come to her. My mum still gets the odd call from receptionists saying that they’d really appreciate it if my sister could make the effort to get to the surgery(!).

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ChampionshipComplex@reddit

Yeah and unusually it was only the children or the dying and it was things like measles or chicken pox.

I remember 3 or 4 times doctors coming to visit.

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bustedwomb@reddit

It’s not something that just happened in the good old days. I had surgery on both my legs in 2008 and developed haematomas on both legs so a GP from my surgery came out to see me to assess them. It’s for anyone who can’t physically get to a GP but doesn’t need an ambulance to a&e

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No_Ring_3348@reddit

All stopped after Shipman, who was renowned locally for his propensity for doing home visits.

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thethirdbar@reddit

yes, i remember the dr coming to ours when i was very small - i was born in 88. by the time my sister was born in 95 that defo didn't happen anymore.

i quite liked going to the dr's though because they had a softplay in the waiting area which was great if i was only feeling a BIT ill, or if i was just being dragged along with my mum for not-me reasons. but thinking about it now, my god that must have been a viral hotbed, surely? 😱

nursery rhymes like 'miss polly had a dolly' make very little sense now!

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Wide-Challenge-4874@reddit

I did some work in a supported living facility a year or so ago, one of the NHS doctor's surgeries that the people living there were registered with would do out of hours, one wouldn't and so those people had to call urgent care or similar. Was really weird but yeah I saw a doctor come out about ten o'clock at night to sort an elderly gentleman out.

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Whollie@reddit

Yes. I had them regularly as a child. I had very serious asthma and was very lucky to have parents who took it seriously and a GP that gave excellent care.

In any other situations I would have been hospitalised regularly. As it was, I was given a nebuliser whenever I needed one and kept home to avoid catching anything else. It was definitely a very close thing a few times though. The one time I did have a serious asthma attack on holiday it was straight to hospital. 3 days on a children's ward in Sheffield.

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FluffAndTumble91919@reddit

Yes once - I think my mum actually took me to the doctor's house because it was late and the doctor had her small children at home. I was quite small so I can't say for sure, but we were in someone's living room when the doctor checked me over, not the doctors surgery.

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withnailstail123@reddit

I was born in 1983, English.

I remember the family Dr coming to help me when I had the mumps.

Thank the gods for the MMR vaccine, my poor parents thought I was dying.

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PoetryBeneficial6447@reddit

Had one pay me an emergency visit after blood test showed blood sugars of 1.5 mmol/L to check I wasn't dead 😂

He took another there and then, 1.9 he was amazed I was still upright and cognitive.

Turns out I had an insulinoma...

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noname2808559@reddit

Lots in the mid to late 80s always had a home visit when I'll along with Lukozade in glass and plastic.

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Scorpiodancer123@reddit

Ah if you didn't have a glass bottle of lucozade, were you even ill? Memory unlocked.

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GeordieAl@reddit

I remember at the end of 1999 I had just flown back from Canada to Newcastle to spend Christmas at home and catch the Madness gig at the Newcastle Arena. Either someone on the plane home or in the crowd at the gig had flu which they kindly passed on to me.

The day after the gig I started feeling really ill, and by the next day I was barely moving. I was kipping on a really old zedbed at me mams house for the duration of my stay, and by the third day after the gig I couldn't get out of bed, couldn't smoke(a definite sign that I'm sick!), could barely eat or drink anything.

Me mam called her local doctors office and later that day her doctor appeared with his little black bag of tricks. he gave me the once over, confirmed that it was some kind of flu, plus a chest infection, gave me some tablets that he had with him and a prescription for something that I don't remember now - may have been antibiotics for the chest infection.

Anyway, it reminded me of what a great health care system the UK had - at that time I was living in Canada and could not get a family doctor anywhere.

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Ok-Lack4735@reddit

GPs still do home visits for those who can't get to the surgery.

Source: GP receptionist who books home visits all the time.

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bopeepsheep@reddit

I've had nurses and locum/overnight service GPs come out to me in the last decade. Don't recommend being that ill.

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Scorpiodancer123@reddit

A GP came to my house when I had pleurisy and another time where I couldn't stop vomiting. This was 20+ years ago.

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youshouldbeelsweyr@reddit

They still do them

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Danglyweed@reddit

Im 39 and had a gp visit at home when i was about 7, when i did a headstand and goosed my neck. Also had one last year when i had a massive disc protrusion and physically couldnt move. I was refused one 8 or 9 years ago as the gp said i was too young for one, had pneumonia, collapsed lung and the onset of sepsis.

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kinvig@reddit

The only home visits we had were from The Nit Nurse.

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OMGItsCheezWTF@reddit

In the late 90s I had flu. Not a sniffle, not a cold, actual influenza.

I was bedridden for a week, high fever, hallucinations, severe pain, could barely keep any liquids down.

My parents ummed and arred about getting me to hospital but phoned our GP who came out to visit me, he said it was close but as long as my fever was controlled I'll be ok. I spent the two weeks after that as weak as a kitten.

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Alice_Da_Cat@reddit

I remember this! I was around 4 - Very vague memory of it but I had some kind of stomach bug, my mum still says I hadn't eaten for a week and was still being sick, I remember a man coming in and putting a wooden stick on my tongue and saying "go ahhh" which I did, he did some more checks, he then confirmed I was very sick and left, unsure what the outcome was but that started the tradition in our house that once you'd been sick, as soon as you felt better mum would get you a bottle of orange lucozade and a portion of popcorn chicken from the local takeaway! She was so happy that I was finally hungry I may have even gotten KFC that time 😅😅

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BuncleCar@reddit

When I was a child in the 1950s our GP would come if we had chicken pox or measles. My sister or I would be put in our parents' bed for the visit. I have a vague memory that a coal fire would be lit in the room too, a rare occurrence.

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SoggyWotsits@reddit

My other half’s nan had a home visit from the doctor last week, but she’s elderly, has cancer and has just had surgery too. I think the last time I had a home visit would have been in the 80s as a child.

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heroics-delta8s@reddit

Housecalls out of hour were a normal part of a GPs work, and they hated it. In the GP contract renegotiation in the early 2000s they were offered an opt out if they took a small cut in some kind of bonus. The cut was trivial compared to the gain. Now out of hours stuff is done centrally by your local nhs health trust.

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RadiantTown9154@reddit

Scarlet fever, early 90s they told my mum not to bring me to the surgery they’d send someone out to confirm - I had a roaring fever

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Sad-Grade6972@reddit

GPs were often as much a family friend as a clinician in those days! When my Mum had a very distressing late term miscarriage before I came along, our GP visited my Dad at home unprompted, to support him and advise how he could best take care of my Mum. He was a wonderful man. He, as a young doctor, helped bring my Mum into the world as he did for my Mum when she was expecting me.

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Lion-Resident@reddit

This is so cute and I remember the banana flavoured medicine 🍌💛

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Lessarocks@reddit

No, they never did when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies in Scotland. We had to go to the surgery. The only people that got home visits back then were the infirm or dying.

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Serious_Escape_5438@reddit

I was in Northern Ireland and we didn't have home visits either.

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Longjumping-Ad3528@reddit

Made of tougher stuff - girders!

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Opposite_Funny9958@reddit

Back in the day is still here - at least in my neck of the woods, home visits are still done for those not able to get to a surgery but who are not at A&E level of need.

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Scatterheart61@reddit

Yep, I remember having an actual named doctor who you would nearly always see, who knew you and your family and your medical history.

I remember her coming to the house at couple of times, once when my mum had pneumonia and wasn't sure if it was bad enough to go to the hospital.

When they stopped doing home visits, I was really ill once and my dad phoned the GP. The receptionist put him through to the doctor, he chatted to her, and even though there were no appointments as it was later in the day she told him to drive me over and came out to the car and saw me.

In the last few years I don't think I've ever met the same doctor twice. Have never met my named doctor. Sit on the phone for 40 minutes waiting to book and appointment to be told they're all gone, try again tomorrow, whilst being interrogated by the receptionist.

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Ok_Taro7430@reddit

Some still do if you can't get out. My local surgery has several GPs on staff and one is always on rota for home visits and Whatsapp consultations.

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Key_Barber_4161@reddit

Once, my sister had appendicitis and she was in so much pain mum couldn't get her to the drs. Dr came round checked her over then we went to hospital

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Smooth-Eggs@reddit

Our GP still does that every month or two, but that's because of complex needs and mobility issues. Can't fault them at all.

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tiorzol@reddit

Man that banana flavoured amoxicillin was the bomb. Tonsillitis not so much. Used to suffer with it when I was a youngster had them whipped out, was fine for a decade and then the fuckers grew back!

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Dutch_Slim@reddit

Yes, can remember having an infection when I was about 3. We were out at a party and I was asleep wrapped in my dad’s coat. When it was time to go my mum realised how ill I was, and the emergency doctor came and saw me in my front room at around midnight on a Saturday night.

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ElizabethHiems@reddit

Yes, several times. The last was in the early 90s.

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Japhet_Corncrake@reddit

Yes. It was the early 80s though.

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BabynATrenchc0at@reddit

Friend of mine was unable to leave his house due to extreme anxiety so every doctors appointment was a home visit for him. This was only 10 years ago.

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Iammildlyoffended@reddit

Yes I was burning up with a temperature late one night and the GP came to me in my bedroom. Bless them,understand it was properly celebrated by doctors who could limit their hours when it stopped. But it was much better for me than it had been for our own kids when we’ve had to take them to a & e at night.

Although when our son suddenly developed a headache and a rash I called 111 the paramedics came round immediately to look at him for us.

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FinnemoreFan@reddit

Yes, when I was a small child with chickenpox or something like that. I remember him with an old fashioned doctor’s bag, in my bedroom. This would have been in the very early 1970s.

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orangeonesum@reddit

My GP did my daughter's newborn check at our home. It was winter, and she offered to come to us. That was less than two decades ago.

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fuck_peeps_not_sheep@reddit

I grew up in a small town, home visits were a thing up until we moved away in 2013

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Howard1981@reddit

The medicine that tasted of bananas brought back some memories!

That was back before they changed the recipe of Calpol and it tasted just like Red Bull

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BlackJackKetchum@reddit

Yes, the odd home visit when I was a child in the 70s in West Essex. We were not being singled out for special treatment.

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massdebate159@reddit

Yes, lots of occasions. I also had chronic tonsillitis (they finally removed them when I was 15 after my school kept bitching). Also, my single mother was epileptic, so I learned at a very young age when to call the doctor out if she had a fit.

Also, my doctor's "surgery" was just the village hall!

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reader270@reddit

Mine turned up in the middle of the night when I was sick with glandular fever. I was 15 and I remember being very confused as to why my doctor was in my bedroom.

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Major_Bag_8720@reddit

Yeah, when I was a kid in the 70s and had chickenpox. Seems to have died out now, although I assume they still visit people who are unable to leave the house.

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Historical_Project86@reddit

Yes I remember. You need r/GenX.

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Long_Huckleberry1751@reddit

I had a home visit after giving birth at home - the GP newborn check was/is still on the list of things a GP would do a visit for. So my named, grumpy GP - who I had never seen, and who, by the looks of things had never seen a newborn or done a newborn check before - rocked up at 8pm while we were having a chippy supper and then refused some chips. Next time I went into the surgery a few hours after birth for it so I could get someone who was actually interested.

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ice-lollies@reddit

Yes. Especially for children. I knew one GP who would go into the hospital to visit every patient who had just had a baby. Vets used to go out as well.

Now I think it might be mostly limited to housebound/bedbound.

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