What is 24/7 Medical Concierge?

Twenty four seven medical concierge is a membership-based private GP service that gives you direct access to a small team of doctors at any time of the day or night. Instead of fitting your needs around surgery hours or urgent care queues, you pay a monthly fee for round-the-clock medical advice, longer appointments and home visits wherever appropriate. 

It’s understandable to feel unsure what “24/7 medical concierge” actually means. On the surface, it can sound almost too good to be true:  Is there really such a thing as a GP available at all hours? Will you genuinely be able to get help if something happens in the middle of the night? How does it work if you have children, an older relative, a second home in the Cotswolds or a job that does not fit neatly into office hours?

At Concierge Medical, we offer a membership-based 24/7 medical concierge service that gives you round-the-clock access to a private GP team, with a strong focus on home visits and longer, unhurried appointments. Wherever possible, your named doctor comes to you. We look after individuals and families across the Cotswolds, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, providing calm, personal care in the place you feel most comfortable, your own home.

For a more comprehensive look at all the benefits a concierge medical service offers, you might also like to take a look at our article What are the Benefits of Concierge Medical Practices? 

What is 24/7 medical concierge?

At its simplest, 24/7 medical concierge is a membership-based private GP service. Instead of paying per appointment, you pay a regular monthly fee in return for enhanced access to a small, dedicated team of doctors. Members can contact their GP service at any time, day or night, and are offered longer, more relaxed consultations, personalised follow-up and help coordinating tests, referrals and ongoing treatment.

The key difference from traditional models is availability. A true concierge service is built around being there for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That does not mean your individual doctor is on duty at all times, but it does mean that whenever you need medical advice, you can reach a GP who has access to your records and can make safe, informed decisions.

How 24/7 concierge GP care differs from NHS and other private GP services

In most GP services, NHS or private, access is organised around daytime and early evening opening hours. Routine appointments are usually offered in office hours, sometimes with limited early morning or evening clinics. Outside those times, you are generally directed to NHS 111, an out of hours provider, an urgent treatment centre or A and E if you are worried it might be an emergency.

NHS 111 plays an important role, but it is a national, protocol-driven service. The challenge is not usually getting through, but the length and complexity of the triage process and what happens afterwards. You may first speak to a call handler, then to a nurse or clinician, and be given a time frame for a follow-up call or face-to-face assessment. In practice, many people report waiting significantly longer than they expected for that promised follow-up, or being passed between services before anything concrete happens.

If you are advised to attend an urgent treatment centre, waiting is also common. An internal NHS England report into urgent treatment centres, summarised by the Health Service Journal, found that across 168 services the average wait was 1 hour 59 minutes, and 51 centres reported average waits longer than 2 hours 15 minutes [1]. For families with young children, older adults, or anyone feeling very unwell, those waits in a busy waiting room can be particularly difficult.

Many private GP clinics improve on routine access and appointment length, but they still tend to work within office hours and are clinic-based. Once the surgery closes, you may be signposted back into the same 111 and urgent care pathways as everyone else.

The Concierge Medical Experience

A 24/7 concierge GP service is built around a different approach. As a member of Concierge Medical, you have:

• Direct 24/7 access to a GP from our team, without going through a national call centre
  
• A clear, simple pathway, you call us, a GP calls you back, and together you decide whether advice, a video call or a home visit is needed
  
• A home visit oriented model, so wherever appropriate, the doctor comes to you rather than you travelling to a clinic or urgent treatment centre
  
• Rapid responses for urgent problems at any time, not just during surgery hours
  
• Continuity through your named GP, backed by a small team who share the same ethos and have full access to your records
  
• Proactive follow-up after an illness or hospital visit, instead of fragmented, episodic care across multiple services
  

The NHS remains the backbone of healthcare in the UK, and many private clinics offer excellent care during office hours. Our role is different. We provide an ongoing, relationship-based GP service that you can call day or night, so you are not left waiting for a promised call back or sitting for hours in an urgent treatment centre when you are already worried about your health or your family.

Benefits of 24/7 home visit care models

There is now a growing body of evidence that, for the right patients, urgent care delivered at home can be at least as safe as hospital admission, and can offer additional benefits in some areas. Most of this research looks at models such as “hospital at home” or urgent community response teams rather than concierge GP services specifically, so the findings need to be applied with care, but the principles are very relevant.

For example, a large review of randomised trials in adults with chronic diseases who attended emergency departments found that “hospital at home” services, where doctors or nurses visited patients at home instead of admitting them, achieved similar survival to in hospital care, but with around a 26 percent lower risk of readmission and a lower chance of later admission to long term care. 

Patients also reported less depression and anxiety, with no loss of physical function compared to standard admission [2]. This suggests that, for selected urgent cases, intensive home-based care can be at least as safe as hospital, and may support better recovery and wellbeing.

Other studies of innovative home visiting models for people with complex needs have reported reductions in emergency department attendances, fewer hospital admissions and lower overall healthcare costs when care is coordinated around home visits and close links to primary care [3]. These programmes are not identical to a concierge GP model, but they support the idea that prompt assessment and management at home can reduce the need for unplanned hospital care.

In England, health services are moving in the same direction. NHS England has invested nationally in “urgent community response” teams that provide rapid assessment and treatment at home for people in crisis, such as sudden frailty, infection or a fall. The stated aim is to help people avoid some hospital admissions and to support them to live independently for longer, by responding within two hours in appropriate cases [4, 5]. Local NHS providers describe these teams as a way to keep people safely at home, reduce avoidable trips to hospital and ease pressure on emergency departments [6].

These models are not concierge GP services and they are not evaluating Concierge Medical’s work directly. However, they do support a key principle that sits at the heart of this service, that when urgent problems are assessed quickly at home by clinicians who understand the person’s background, it is often possible to manage issues safely without hospital admission, with potential benefits for recovery, independence and overall experience.

Who benefits most from 24/7 medical concierge care?

24/7 concierge GP care can be helpful for many people, but some groups tend to feel the benefit particularly strongly, because timing, continuity and home visits make a real difference to their day-to-day lives.

Group	How 24/7 access and home visits help
Families with young children	Rapid advice and home visits when a child is unwell, especially in the evening or at night, can prevent long waits in urgent care and reduce stress for everyone.
Older adults and people with long-term conditions	Home-based assessments avoid difficult travel and waiting rooms, while a GP team that already knows their history can manage complex needs more safely and calmly.
Busy professionals	Being able to contact a GP at any hour and arrange visits around early starts, late finishes, or changing schedules makes it easier to seek help early rather than putting things off.
Frequent travellers and second home owners	A familiar GP service at the end of the phone, and able to visit when they are in the Cotswolds and surrounding areas, provides continuity that standard practice-based care often cannot match.

How our 24/7 service works in practice

Every medical concierge practice will organise its service a little differently. Some focus mainly on clinic-based appointments, others on virtual care. At Concierge Medical, we have spent many years refining our model so that it genuinely works for our members in day-to-day life. As one of the original providers of this type of service in the UK, we have had time to hone what we do and tailor it closely to what our patients tell us they need.

When you are a member, you can contact us at any time of the day or night through a dedicated telephone number. You do not have to decide whether something is urgent enough to wait or whether it can wait until the morning. You simply call us and we take it from there.

In practice, the flow is straightforward. You call the dedicated number. A GP from our team calls you back, usually very promptly. From there, we decide together what is most appropriate. Sometimes clear telephone advice is all that is needed, occasionally supported by a video consultation. In other situations we will arrange a home visit, either urgently or at a convenient time later that day.

We know how important continuity is, which is why each member has a personally assigned GP. No doctor can be available every hour of every day, so when your own GP is off duty, another GP from our team will look after you. They have full access to your medical records and work within the same practice ethos, so advice and decisions are made with a proper understanding of your health.

Above all, we are a home visit oriented service. Wherever possible, your appointment will take place in your own home or another setting that suits you. Visits are longer and unhurried, giving time for careful examination, explanation and planning, without the feeling of being rushed through a busy clinic.

Will I always see the same doctor?

When you join Concierge Medical, you are assigned a named GP who takes overall responsibility for your care. They are your main point of contact, the doctor who gets to know you, your family, your medical history and what matters to you over time. Wherever possible, you will see or speak to this doctor for the majority of your appointments and reviews.

There will be times when your own GP is not available, for example: overnight, at weekends or when they are on planned leave. In those situations, another GP from our small team will look after you. They have full access to your records, can see what has been discussed previously and will update your notes so your named GP is always kept in the loop. All of our doctors share the same ethos; to provide careful, relationship-based medicine with the time and attention you deserve.

This is very different from what usually happens if you attend an urgent treatment centre or out-of-hours clinic. In that setting, you are likely to see a GP who has never met you before, often with limited access to your full history and little or no contact with your usual GP afterwards. The care you receive may be safe and appropriate for the immediate problem, but it is typically a one-off episode, separate from the ongoing picture of your health.

With Concierge Medical, even when you are seen by another doctor in the team, your care remains part of a single, continuous story. Your named GP stays involved, your records are complete and up to date, and everyone looking after you works from the same shared understanding of who you are and what you need.

What happens if I need to go to hospital?

If you ever need to go to hospital, you are not left to manage that on your own. In many private and NHS services, the broad process is similar; your GP identifies that hospital care is needed and refers you on. At Concierge Medical, we follow the same broad principles, but with a more personal, hands-on approach.

If admission is required, we will speak directly to the hospital or specialist team where possible. We explain clearly why you are being admitted, what has happened so far and any important background about your medical history and medications. This helps the hospital team to understand the context quickly and make safe, informed decisions from the outset.

In certain situations, we can also help arrange admission to a private urgent care facility or private hospital, depending on your needs, your location and the options available. We will talk through the choices with you, including any practical or financial considerations, so you can decide what feels right.

Crucially, our involvement does not stop once you arrive in hospital, as we remain available to you and your family, and once you are discharged, we will arrange follow-up to review what has happened, check that you are recovering as expected and help coordinate any ongoing treatment or referrals. The aim is for your care to feel joined up, from the first phone call with us through to your return home.

24/7 concierge GP cover in the Cotswolds and surrounding counties

We provide 24/7 concierge GP cover for individuals and families living in the Cotswolds, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. Our doctors spend much of their time on the road between rural villages, farms, market towns and larger centres, bringing the consultation to you rather than asking you to travel to a clinic.

Because we operate a home visit oriented model, we are always balancing our response times with the realities of distance and geography. Urgent problems are prioritised and, in most cases, we can see or speak to you very promptly, then arrange a visit as clinically appropriate. Less urgent issues may be scheduled later the same day or at a time that suits you. From the moment you call, our focus is on giving clear advice, realistic expectations and a plan that works for you in the context of where you live.

Joining Concierge Medical and what to expect

Membership of Concierge Medical is designed to be simple and fully inclusive. Your monthly membership fees cover all visits and consultations with your private Concierge Medical doctor. There is no joining fee and no hidden extras for writing prescriptions, referral letters or medical documents.

Membership currently starts from £100 per month for adults, with options for individuals, couples and families:

• Individual membership
  
  • Ages 18 to 49: £100 per month
    
  • Ages 50 to 74: £120 per month
    
  • Ages 75 and over: £140 per month
    
• Couple membership
  
  • Ages 18 to 49: £150 per month
    
  • Ages 50 to 74: £180 per month
    
  • Ages 75 and over: £210 per month
    
• Children under 18: £30 per child per month, when parents are registering as members
  

As a member, you can expect:

• 24 7 access to our GP team, every day of the year
  
• Home visits wherever appropriate, so your doctor comes to you
  
• Longer, unhurried appointments with time to listen and explain
  
• Coordination of tests, referrals and follow up care when needed
  

If you live in the Cotswolds, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire or Wiltshire and would like to explore whether this type of care is right for you, you can register online or send us an enquiry. To find out more or start the process, visit https://www.conciergemedical.co.uk/become-a-member/

Conclusion

24/7 medical concierge care is, at heart, a different way of doing general practice. Instead of fitting your life around surgery hours, national call centres and urgent treatment queues, you have an ongoing relationship with a small team of GPs who are available whenever you need them. That means the same doctors looking after you over time, more time in each appointment, and clear, timely advice when something feels urgent or simply not quite right.

At Concierge Medical, we have built our practice around this principle. As a member, you can call us at any time of the day or night, speak directly with a GP, and, where appropriate, be seen in the comfort of your own home. We stay involved if you need hospital care, coordinate tests and referrals, and keep your named GP at the centre of your ongoing health.

For some people, this service provides reassurance that their children or older relatives will never be left without support. For others, it is about continuity and convenience in the context of a busy, sometimes unpredictable life. If you live in the Cotswolds, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire or Wiltshire and want a GP service that is both personal and reliably 24/7, concierge medicine may be the right fit for you.

References

1. OneMedical Group. Urgent Care Waiting Times, Urgent Treatment Waiting Times. Available at: https://onemedicalgroup.co.uk/our-group/news/urgent-care-waiting-times-urgent-treatment-waiting-times/ 

2. Arsenault Lapierre G, Henein M et al. Hospital at Home Interventions vs In Hospital Stay for Patients With Chronic Disease Who Present to the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta analysis. JAMA Network Open. 2021.
Open access full text: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8188269/ 

3. Ruiz S, Snyder LP, Rotondo C, et al. Innovative Home Visit Models Associated With Reductions in Costs, Hospitalizations, and Emergency Department Use. Health Affairs. 2017;36(3):425–432. Journal page: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1305 

4. NHS England. Urgent community response services.Service overview:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/community-health-services/urgent-community-response-services/ 

5. The Strategy Unit. Urgent Community Response: Evidence Scan. 2022.
PDF: https://www.strategyunitwm.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2022-05/Urgent%20Community%20Response%20Evidence%20Scan%202022%20%281%29.pdf 6. Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. 2 hour Urgent Community Response (UCR) service.
Service description: https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/our-services/liverpool/2hr-community-response-ucr

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