General Practitioners: Hippocratic Oath

Lord Cormack Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jolly]

I cannot say whether or not Hippocrates would be surprised. However, doctors—certainly, those in the out-of-hours service—are committed to home visits where it is decided that they are clinically appropriate.

[Lord Cormack (Con)]

My Lords, in my former constituency, a well respected GP said to me that no doctor can truly know his patient unless he knows him at home as well as in the surgery. Does she agree?

[Baroness Jolly]

I really do not have the experience on which to draw. It sounds like a good idea, but how practical it is I do not know.