Home Visits

Whilst we encourage our patients to come to the surgery, where we have the proper equipment and facilities available, we do appreciate this is not always possible. In this respect, if you do need a home visit, you must ring us by before 10:00 on 01277 227711. All requests for home visits are triaged by our morning duty doctor to determine if you need a visit or not. Requests for non-urgent home visits can be made in advance.

You may only request a home visit if you are housebound or are too ill to visit the practice. A GP will only visit you at home if they think that your medical condition requires it and will also decide how urgently a visit is needed. Please bear this in mind and be prepared to provide suitable details to enable the doctor to schedule house calls

You can also be visited at home by a community nurse if you are referred by your GP. You should also be visited at home by a health visitor if you have recently had a baby or if you are newly registered with a GP and have a child under five years.

Acute Home Visiting Service - this is a service in Brentwood funded by the CCG and run by BB Healthcare Solutions - when you request a visit you may receive one from this service and not by one of the Tile House Surgery doctors, this can either by a GP or an Advanced Nurse Practitioner whichever is deemed most appropriate. You will be advised if your visit is going to be undertaken by this service at the time that the Triage duty doctor speaks to you. These visits can take place anytime between 9am and 6pm.

Appointments

At the Tile House all patients have a named accountable GP, who is responsible for your overall care at the Practice, if you do not know who this is you should contact Reception who will be able to tell you, if you have a preference as to which GP this is we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.

To maintain continuity of care we prefer you to see or speak to your own doctor for routine appointments whenever possible.

We offer both telephone and face to face appointments, for some conditions such as skin complaints, breast lumps and other lumps (this list is not exhaustive) the doctor will require you to have a face to face appointment reception will be able to advise which type of appointment is best when you speak to them.

The telephone lines can be very busy especially early in the morning. If possible, for non-urgent matters, please telephone after 10:00.

Practice Nurses

In a number of cases it might be worth considering an appointment with a practice nurse rather than a doctor. Practice nurses are qualified to deal with many conditions and you may be seen more quickly.

Other Clinicians working from the Tile House

Physician Associate

A Clinician that can triage patients, deal with acute ailments and assist the doctors and works under the guidance and instruction of a GP.

These appointments are all face to face and last 20 minutes.

First Contact Physiotherapist

An experienced physiotherapist and orthopaedic specialist who can assess patients who have musculoskeletal problems, give advice, exercises and can onward refer to other MSK services as necessary.

Conditions that can be assessed and treated are sciatica, ligament sprains and strains, osteoarthritis of any joint, pain in the ankle, knee, hip, shoulders, elbows or wrist/hand. This list is not exhaustive.

These appointments are all face to face and last up to 30 minutes.

Pharmacists

Experienced community pharmacists who can review patients medication use, advise of contraindications, carry out other reviews and review hospital discharge letters.

These appointments are all telephone appointments.

Other Clinicians and staff working remotely for the Tile House

Mental Health Practitioners

These are mental health specialists that can help patients with acute onset or on-going mental health problems - please contact Reception to book a telephone appointment with one of them.

Social prescriber

The Social Prescriber can assist with advice on many non medical social issues such as rent arrears, social isolation, eviction etc (this list is not exhaustive) please contact reception to book a telephone appointment with our Social Prescriber.

Accidents and Emergencies

Minor injuries may be dealt with by the Nurses at the surgery (please ring for an appointment and advice), but for major problems patients should attend the nearest Accident and Emergency department, located at Basildon Hospital or Queens Hospital, Romford, or Orsett Minor Injury Service. (Always ring this service before attending to confirm that they can deal with your problem on 01268 592300.)

Cancellations

If you cannot attend an appointment for any reason please inform us as soon as possible in order for us to give the slot to someone else.

Sickness Certificates

You do not require a doctor's sickness certificate for any illness lasting seven days or less. Your employer may however require you to complete a self-certification form (SC2) which is available from your employer or on the HMRC website.

Evidence that you are sick

If you are sick for more than seven days, your employer can ask you to give them some form of medical evidence to support payment of SSP (statutory sick pay).

It is up to your employer to decide whether you are incapable of work. A medical certificate, now called a 'Statement of Fitness for Work’ (see below) from your doctor is strong evidence that you are sick and would normally be accepted, unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

You could also provide evidence from someone who is not a medical practitioner, e.g. a dentist. Your employer will decide whether or not this evidence is acceptable. If your employer has any doubts, they may still ask for a medical certificate from your GP.

Statement of Fitness for Work - ’Fit Note'

The 'fit note' was introduced on 6 April 2010. With your employer's support, the note will help you return to work sooner by providing more information about the effects of your illness or injury.

If you have registered to use our on-line services, you can complete required details for a fit note through the questionnaires section of our on-line services rather than phoning through to the surgery.

For more information see the DirectGov website (where this information was sourced).