Background The rapidly evolving situation of COVID-19 pandemic made it imperative for the existing home visiting service to transform. Within a period of days, protocols were developed, staff training was undertaken and adequate infection control measures were deployed.

Aims/Objectives Identify key aspects for the redeployment of Acute Home Visiting Service through COVID-19 pandemic

Methods A 4-week pilot exercise was initiated; we used quantitative and qualitative feedback from users to implement further changes. This enabled us to calculate the estimated demand of the service and additional staff that was required. We rapidly deployed COVID-19 policies, procedures and protocols as a result. We trained our staff to deliver the home visiting services working collaboratively with existing community and primary care services. All visits were triaged by senior clinicians to ensure a risk assessment of the visit in COVID-19 pandemic conditions was conducted. An ongoing service evaluation was performed.

Results A total of 11,478 appointments were recorded, of which 9990 (87%) were avoidable hospital admissions. We avoided hospital admissions at a time when services were already strained. A daily, and weekly workload and admissions information were provided to Basildon and Brentwood CCG.

Conclusions Primary care services underwent rapid transformation across all service lines, the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund primed GP federations that were able to work at scale within a short period of time and remained responsive to the primary care challenges of home visiting and admission avoidance to protect secondary care services.