Home Assessments in Geriatrics Revisited: An Audit of a Routine Home Visiting Service

Abstract

Routine home visiting is a luxury not afforded to other medical specialities. The practice of routine home assessment visiting in geriatric medicine was evaluated in a prospective study of 110 consecutive referrals to determine whether; the response to general practitioners referrals could be predicted from the information given at the time of referral and; to identify where home visiting identified additional information of value in directing services more appropriately. Requests for admission were accurately predicted in 86–96% of cases by the visiting and a control doctor respectively. Additional information of value in directing services and patient management was gained from the home visit in 30% of admissions, 58% of day hospital cases and 80% of out-patients. It is possible to predict the outcome of home visits although implementation of such predictions without direct communication with general practitioners would result in a small number of unnecessary admissions and referrals to day hospital services.