Urgent Community Response (UCR) Service

The Urgent Community Response (UCR) team provides a community rapid response to Lewisham borough residents seven days a week, Monday to Sunday from 8am to 8pm. This service treats patients at home to avoid a hospital admission or readmission.

All referrals are triaged by the on-call Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) and if clinically necessary seen within two hours (patients will also be seen later that day or the next day if required) by a multidisciplinary team of ACPs with support from consultants, the hospital frailty team, and colleagues in emergency care. 

Patients who require a two hour response will need to be referred by 6pm on the day of referral.

If needed, a short-term intervention can be put in place for the patient for up to five days.

The service is designed for people over 18 who are housebound and registered with a Lewisham GP. Please find the full inclusion and exclusion criteria – to ensure that the UCR team can help your patient – at the bottom of this page.

Any healthcare professional can refer a Lewisham patient into the service. Below is a list of who is currently referring into the UCR service:

  • GPs
  • One Health Lewisham
  • Paramedics
  • 111
  • Same Day Emergency Care team at University Hospital Lewisham
  • Emergency Department at University Hospital Lewisham

The below videos explain more about the service, and the second includes some handy scenarios that demonstrate what the UCR team can do for Lewisham residents:

Patient demographics

  • Adults only (18+)
  • Lewisham GP registered
  • Do not have to be housebound just unable to leave home due to illness

Patient exclusion criteria

  • Suspected or new CVA/TIA
  • Suspected myocardial infarction
  • Significant arrhythmia with haemodynamic compromise.
  • Severe chest infection who are likely to require oxygen therapy or in respiratory distress
  • Gastrointestinal haemorrhage
  • Diabetic emergency
  • Acute psychiatric complaint
  • Intractable social crises
  • Suspected fracture, Fractured Neck or Femur or trauma with a suspected fracture prior to orthopaedic review
  • Head injury/trauma and unconscious GCS >13
  • Collapsed patient requiring resuscitation
  • Acute abdominal pain with collapse