There are times when speaking to a doctor on the phone can be critical in getting you urgently needed advice or reassurance. We have found this to be invaluable for patients when they are abroad and are unable to see their own doctor.
We must advise our patients that all requests for a telephone consultation are at the doctor's discretion since there are situations when the doctor will need to see the patient in order to offer an accurate diagnosis. Sometimes a telephone consultation will lead directly to a face-to-face consultation, and in this situation we will deduct the telephone consultation from the cost of a subsequent home visit.