Home Appointments

Consultation Before Your Appointment

A telephone or video appointment may be offered before the planned visit in order to reduce time spent face to face.

Before your appointment you will be contacted and asked a couple of questions to determine whether you might be ill with any of the symptoms of coronavirus. The questions have been introduced for the safety and wellbeing of all patients and staff.

Please try and ensure that your appointment can take place in a well ventilated room. If possible open windows before a staff member arrives and please thoroughly wash your hands before your appointment.

PPE and Social Distancing

All our staff are required to wear full Personal Protective Equipment (or PPE) throughout your appointment which may include masks, visors, aprons and gloves as appropriate, following the National Infection Prevention and Control Guidance.

PPE will be put on immediately upon entering your home, just inside the doorway or in the entrance hall. Please ensure they have enough space which is 2 metres away from anyone in the property to do so. You will also need to wear a face covering if possible.

The healthcare professional visiting will clean their hands before putting on their disposable gloves and on some occasions they may need to wash their hands after care. They will use their own disposable paper towels or wipes.

At the end of our visit, we will provide instructions on the safe disposal of used PPE and any other waste generated during the visit.

We know that this is a new way of doing things, if you have any questions or things don’t go to plan, you can contact us again on the telephone. We will then work with you to see how we can provide care in a way that is suited to your needs.

Our staff may ask you to move to support social distancing or to wash your hands and we appreciate your cooperation to keep everyone safe.

Try to keep a two metre gap between you and the NHS staff member in your home as much as possible.

It would be helpful if you could limit the number of people in your home during the visit. We may call you ahead of our visit or on arrival at your home and we will ask if you or any household members have any symptoms of Coronavirus, such as a raised temperature, a new and persistent cough or loss of taste and smell.

If other household members are going to be at home please ask them to stay in another room for the duration of the appointment.