Do out of hours GP’s offer home visits?

[Nowherefast23]

I seriously fractured my right ankle just under 4 weeks ago requiring surgery. I had the operation almost 3 weeks ago and got my full cast 5 days ago. All great, no pain/swelling etc. I also fractured my left foot at the same time which is stable but means that I can’t use crutches yet.

Today I developed sudden onset tingling, swelling and redness in my lower leg/ankle. Presumed my cast was too tight and managed to see somebody at the plaster room just before they closed who cut the cast open to release pressure which should have provided relief. I didn’t see a doctor due to the timing.

It’s getting worse by the hour. Discomfort is increasing. My entire lower leg from the knee down now feels dead, yet also heavy. I can’t judge where to place my leg as I can’t feel it properly. Skin feels so tight, swelling increasing and lots of tingling. My leg keeps switching from feeling hot to icy cold.

I think I need to get it looked at by a doctor asap.

The problem is I can’t leave my house 😩 I have 8 steps leading up to my property that I can’t get down/up due to both feet being broken.

An ambulance was sent out by hospital transport to get me to the hospital and back earlier. I was carried down while strapped to a chair type thing 😩I don’t want to do that again, especially as it may be nothing serious.

I was wondering whether the out of hours GP might be able to do an home visit? I’m currently housebound/downstairs living with carers coming in twice a day plus a district nurse (due to the injuries). So I’m really not being difficult saying that I can’t get myself to A&E/out of hours surgery.

Not appropriate for an OOH GP, you need compartment syndrome ruled out which is a medical emergency. Make your way back to a&e and/or call 999.

They home visit where I am. Call them and get them to assess you over the phone. It does sound like you might have to go to A&E so I’d prepare if you can by packing a bag of essentials like phone charger, iPad, meds etc. hope you get better soon.

(Don't mean to be dismissive of practical difficulties getting out of your home but you need seeing urgently by trauma and orthopaedics, OOH GP will be a waste of everyone's times

I think it’s appropriate to call an ambulance in this situation. These symptoms could be an emergency.

I would call an ambulance too

I hope you’ve taken the advice to call an ambulance. That sounds very painful and needs to be looked at asap.

This sounds really painful. Definitely phone for an ambulance. Hope everything goes ok and look after yourself.

I would say an ambulance is more appropriate.

Really? I've never heard of that.

Sounds like an ambulance is the only way to get seen.

Hope you get treatment soon.

You don’t need a GP they won’t be able to sort this. You need ED.

I would phone the district nurses before the OOH Gp but realistically it sounds like you need to arrange to go to a and e

Is there even an ooh gp at that time? I had to take someone to A&E at 2am and the triage nurse told us off for not trying them first (who would most likely have sent us to A&E). I found out later there is no ooh Gp after midnight. So the nurse managed to make us both feel bad and she was wrong!
I hope you managed to get in one way or another.

Sorry I didn’t update.

I contacted nhs 111 who sent an ambulance. Was admitted straight away, didn’t need to wait in a&e. Had bloods taken, and my d-dimer was elevated (blood clot indicator), so was treated for a DVT.

Pain got seriously intense while there and then lost all sensation from below the knee, blood pressure/heart rate of the scale. Had a panic attack which I thought was a stroke! But they said it was probably panic.

(Still not convinced it wasn’t neurological tbh, could feel wind blowing at me and head tingling that moved down to my left arm, and hand seizing and involuntary chills/teeth chattering, could feel water running down my leg that wasn’t there, slurred speech and face twitching. Weirdest experience ever! Then a weird feeling of deja vu that kept coming back for the entire following day).

Ended up in majors being pumped with morphine and blood thinners.

What an experience, was scary! Had the cast replaced for a looser one.

Thank you for the replies.