PATIENTS have used a new service more than 12,000 times to receive health care at home.
Nottingham CityCare Partnership's self-referral service allows people who are housebound to call a phone line and either be directed to the services they need or have staff sent to them.
The service received 12,037 referrals from April 2013 to April 2014, its first year of operation.
A large number of these were directed to the community nursing team, which delivers care in people's homes instead of at a GP practice or hospital.
Locality lead for adult services at CityCare Emma Self said the self-referral system was a great success and made the process of receiving the right care in a setting that suited the patient a swift, easy and worry-free process.
Emma, a district and community nurse by background, who has worked for CityCare for 15 years, said: "Self-referral is a simple idea.
"Basically, if a patient is house-bound, or has extreme difficulty in getting out and about, then they are eligible to self-refer.
"All they have to do is call our health and care point and we direct their referral to the relevant team."
Referrals to the services can be made by calling 0300 300 3333 from 8am to 7pm Monday to Friday, or via the website www.accesstoservices.citycare.org.uk.