Home visits allow assessment and support to begin at the patient's home. They are used where a person is unwilling or unable to attend the centre, where a family needs guidance on how to approach someone who is refusing help, and for follow-up after discharge.
When home visits help
The most common reason families request a home visit is that the person concerned will not come in. A visit allows a clinical assessment to happen at all, and often allows a conversation that the family has been unable to start on their own.
Home visits are also used for follow-up, where seeing the actual environment a patient has returned to gives information that a clinic appointment cannot.
What a visit does not replace
A home visit is an assessment and support contact, not a substitute for medically supervised withdrawal. Where assessment shows that withdrawal carries medical risk, the recommendation will be admission rather than home management.
Admission is available 24 hours a day. Families are welcome to call before deciding, and an initial conversation carries no obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can a home visit be arranged if the patient refuses treatment?
- Yes. This is one of the most common reasons families request a visit, and it often allows an assessment and a conversation that would not otherwise happen.
- Can detoxification be done at home?
- Generally no. Where withdrawal carries medical risk — particularly with alcohol or benzodiazepines — supervised inpatient withdrawal is the safe option, and a home visit would be used to arrange admission rather than to manage detox at home.