The terminally ill.
The truly bed-bound patient, for whom travel to premises by car would cause deterioration in their medical condition or unacceptable discomfort.

2 GP visit may be useful

After initial assessment over the telephone, a seriously ill patient may be helped by a GP’s attendance to prepare them for travel to hospital – that is, where a GP’s other commitments do not prevent him/her from arriving before the ambulance.

Examples of such situations are:

Myocardial infarction.
Severe shortness of breath.
Severe haemorrhage.

It must be understood that if a GP is about to embark on a booked surgery of 25 patients and is told that one of his/her patients is suffering from symptoms suggesting a myocardial infarct, the sensible approach may well be to call an emergency paramedical ambulance rather than attending.

3 GP visit is not usual

In most of these cases, to visit would not be an appropriate use of a GP’s time:

Common symptoms of childhood: fevers, cold, cough, earache, headache, diarrhoea/vomiting and most cases of abdominal pain. These are usually well enough to travel by car. It is not necessarily harmful to take a child with a fever outside. These children may not be fit to travel by bus or to walk, but car transport is available from friends, relatives or taxi firms. It is not a doctor’s job to arrange such transport.
Adults with common problems, such as a cough, sore throat, influenza, back pain and abdominal pain, are also readily transportable by car to a doctor’s premises.
Common problems in the elderly, such as poor mobility, joint pain and general malaise, would also best be treated by consultation at a doctor’s premises. The exception to this would be the truly bed-bound patient.