The practice wanted to ensure home visits are done as effectively as possible. Using quality improvement tools to analyse the situation, they came up with the solution of introducing triaging by a practice nurse. This has reduced the number of home visits for each doctor by two or three per day.

Patients continue to receive an effective service and the practice nurses appreciate their new role. It has also brought the reception team closer together due to regular meetings to discuss requests.

As part of their improvement work and to spread information, they are also holding regular ‘protected time' events to share what they learned on the Quality Improvement Skills Programme and to engage others to use the techniques.