Heart failure patients in West Suffolk are avoiding hospital admission thanks to a new collaborative pathway that brings specialist care directly into people’s homes.
The West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) has introduced this innovative approach to allow patients with heart failure to receive intravenous (IV) diuretic treatment safely at home – care that previously required a hospital stay of several days. The new pathway is already supporting 6-8 patients each week, helping them remain in familiar surroundings while freeing up hospital beds for others who need them.
These patients are now admitted to the Trust’s community based virtual ward and are monitored remotely while community nurses – newly trained by WSFT cardiac specialists – administer IV medication in people’s homes. This means patients begin treatment quickly, avoid the disruption and risks of admission, and often recover more comfortably.
Heart failure patients often have chronic illnesses and associated frailty so for many, the impact has been profound.
One patient who has experienced the positive benefits of the pathway is Glynis Tryon. She said: “I have had the treatment in hospital before, but I much prefer having it at home. I had two treatments per day and being at home meant I had time to do other things in between visits from the nurses, with little disruption to my life.
“When I had the treatment at home, I was nursing my late husband Peter who was very ill with lung disease. The nurses coming to me meant that I was able to stay at home with him. If I had been admitted to hospital, Peter would also have been taken away from home for care, so he was very happy I could stay with him. It was a great benefit to have that option available for us.”
The pathway has been made possible through close collaboration between the Trust’s cardiac team, its virtual ward, and community nursing teams. Cardiac specialists have trained community nurses to safely deliver IV treatment in the home – an expansion of their clinical skills and a key enabler of more care being provided closer to home, a key focus for the NHS.
Patryk Szklanny, a community nurse who has been trained to deliver this treatment, said: “Patients often tell us how much happier they are being at home, and many feel they recover faster in their own space. It’s rewarding to provide this holistic patient-centred care and a privilege to be involved and gain new skills through collaboration with the cardiac team.”
Joanne Pugh, WSFT’s lead cardiology nurse specialist, explained: “These patients would normally have been hospitalised for days to enable this treatment but through close working across hospital and community teams, we’re able to better support patients at home while increasing our knowledge and awareness of the challenges around community nursing.”
With collaboration between teams, the pathway has been streamlined to provide quick and effective care, and GPs are able to refer directly into the service. Once referred, patients are triaged and visited typically within a few hours for treatment to be confirmed and started.
Sandra Webb, operations and partnership lead for integrated and community services at the Trust, said: “We are proud to offer a pathway that allows patients to receive IV treatment for heart failure in the comfort of their own homes.
“Made possible through exceptional collaboration between our heart failure team, virtual ward, and district nursing teams, our dedicated colleagues are working differently and developing new skills that are enhancing patient safety, improving quality of life and reducing hospital admissions.”