CUCS Appointments

• The clinic has specialist treatments and equipment that can’t be used during home visits.
• You’ll be treated on a special couch designed to keep you comfortable.
• You can book your clinic appointment at a time that works best for you.
• You’ll be seen more quickly.
• People who truly need home visits won’t have to wait as long.

These rules for home visits are based on the Department of Health ‘Eligibility Criteria for Patient Transport Services.’ The Continence, Urology and Colorectal Service now uses these guidelines.

You might be offered a home visit if:

1. Travelling to the clinic could make your condition worse or slow your recovery.
2. Your medical condition makes it hard for you to get around, and you can only travel by ambulance—not by car or taxi.

You will not be eligible for a home visit if you are able to go out either by taxi, private car, motorised scooter, bus or use the Access Bus to visit any of the following:

• GP
• shops
• relatives
• pick up your pension
• hairdresser or barber
• dentist or optician
• phlebotomist or nurse, or
• luncheon club.

In these circumstances, you will be asked to attend your clinic appointment for your continence care.

• Use public Metro: 0113 245 7676 www.wymetro.com
• Use or share a See Yellow Pages or Thompson Local.
• Family and friends are often willing to help.
• Combine a clinic appointment with another trip such as shopping, personal or health appointments like going to the doctor or hairdresser.
• If you use the Access Bus to go shopping arrange your continence appointment for the same day. Access Bus 0113 348 1903.
• Contact a local voluntary agency that may operate a voluntary driver scheme. Please refer to ‘The A-Z Health and Social Care Information in Leeds: Mini Guide for Older People and Disabled People’ available in local libraries or Leeds City Council social services.0113 398 4702 www.leeds.gov.uk
• Leeds Alternative Travel will take you door to door for a small charge.0113 386 8880
• If you receive the high rate mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance or War Pensioners Mobility Supplement you must use this to pay for your transport costs to clinic.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide a dedicated appointment time for housebound patients who receive home visits from our Service.  This will enable our team to plan our work days more efficiently and effectively and spend less time driving. This may enable us to have more time to:

• Be with patients;
• See more patients;
• Have shorter waiting lists;
• Complete patient administration work;
• Develop our service

Home visits therefore fall between the hours of 08.00am – 16:30pm.

Tobacco smoke is a hazard to health. The NHS in Leeds is trying to protect patients, visitors and staff from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. So, we are asking you to do everything you can to keep your home free of smoke when our staff come to see you.

During your home visit

To protect staff from smoke we ask that patients, and their families and friends, do not smoke while the member of staff is visiting, or shortly before they come. To help, you can;

• Avoid smoking inside the house for at least 1 hour before your health care worker arrives,
• Open windows and doors to ventilate the area,
• Keep smoke out of the room where the health care worker will see you,
• Do not smoke or let anyone else smoke in the room where you are being seen,
• Wherever possible, when the health care worker is in the house, ask other smokers to go outside to smoke.

Our NHS Trust Policy
We will support staff to leave any place which we think is unsafe. In this case, we will try to offer you a different way to get treatment if your home is not clear of smoke. In the last resort, the NHS in Leeds may have to withdraw treatment unless we are sure that you have done everything you could to help us protect our staff.

If you would like to stop smoking, please call Leeds NHS Stop Smoking Service on 0800 169 4219.