General Practitioner and Community Care

Millions of patients are treated in the community each year, but whilst in general the treatment is of a high standard, there are occasions when the care is incompetent, and in those circumstances it may be possible to bring a claim for clinical negligence.

  • District nurse

    A district nurse provides nursing care to patients during periods of illness or incapacity in non-hospital settings; usually in their own homes, in residential care homes or in health centres. Patients may include those who are housebound, the elderly, the terminally ill, the disabled and those who have recently been discharged from hospital.

  • General Practitioner

    General practitioners (GPs) diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions that can have physical, emotional or social causes, giving patients advice on health issues, prescribing medicine or treatment, and performing minor surgery. Where appropriate, they refer patients to other healthcare professionals. They also educate patients about healthy lifestyles and have responsibility for preventative programmes, such as health screening and flu vaccinations. For most people, GPs are their first point of contact with the National Health Service (NHS).

  • Midwifery

    Community midwives provide ante-natal and post-natal care and during a woman's pregnancy, responsibility is usually shared between the GP, the midwife and the health visitor.

  • Nursing homes

    Nursing homes provide accommodation, meals and personal care mainly for the elderly, with many providing the attendance of qualified nurses or specialist care for dementia.  Choosing a nursing home for a relative can be a difficult and emotional decision, but generally nursing homes provide high standards of care to their residents. 

  • Physio / occupational therapist

    Many GP surgeries will have physiotherapists (physios) and occupational therapists (OTs) working with them, with physios treating a wide range of musculo-skeletal problems and OTs helping people to overcome difficulties which may be the result of physical or mental illness, an accident or the ageing process. They create treatment programmes for patients that may comprise of manual therapy, exercise and the application of technological equipment. Both professions cover a surprising amount of conditions and illnesses.

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