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Background The community Palliative Care Team had previously ‘triaged’ all incoming referrals with no set criteria or tool used. Referrals were often over processed with the triager chasing for additional information from already stretched services. Whilst urgent referrals are contacted the same day. In August 2023 non-urgent patients were waiting on average 16.8 days before phone contact and 26 days for a first visit. This, we believe, resulted in crisis intervention following another healthcare professional or family making contact or hospital attendance.Aim To provide early and a more timely response to incoming referrals (Hui, Heung, Bruera. Cancers. 2022;14(4):1047), improving patient and carer support at the end of life. To support hospital avoidance and improve patient outcomes.Method Referrals were screened for quality and implied consent used to access third party records. Referrals are screened daily by senior team members and allocated to caseload with urgent referrals contacted same day and the Clinical Nurse Specialists responsible for contacting and arranging visit according to patient need. Referral criteria was revised with a new message recognising that all referrals were appropriate and that discharge from community services was also acceptable.Results Significant improvement of patient contact, support and home visits – which has improved by 81% despite increase in referrals due to reviewed referral criteria. Patients previously waiting on average 16.8 days for any contact compared to the average response now of 1.7 days.Conclusion Referrals are now screened daily by a small group of senior palliative care nurses, recognising that no referral is wrong and that early palliative care and discharge is appropriate. The changes have resulted in better caseload management, less crisis intervention and improved patient outcomes. We have hypothesised that hospitalisations have been avoided due to a more responsive service. We have data to support the changes made and we are now exploring RAG rating to help further improve our service.