Enabling more patients to self-care and receive treatment at home

Currently there are around half a million people in hospital in England solely for the purpose of having antibiotics intravenously.These patients could receive their treatment in a community setting and it's been estimated that over 70% could self-administer their intravenous (IV) antibiotics at home.[1] 

Baxter has been working in partnership with the NHS to help enable patients to receive their treatment at home through a service  referred to as Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy or OPAT for short. In order to treat as many patients as possible and minimise nursing resource required to deliver OPAT, where possible, patients are given training and support to be able to manage their therapy in their home or sometimes a caregiver or family member are trained to support.

Andy Goldney, Vice President Medication Delivery and Pharmaceuticals Western Europe outlines Baxter’s partnership approach to working with the NHS to enable patients to receive their treatment at home. “We've been working with the NHS for many years to develop this type of therapy, to develop a package of care that allows us to work together to get patients out of the hospital faster, to save money for the NHS, whilst improving outcomes for those patients.”

When patients are able to receive their treatment at home they have increased independence and are able to continue with their lives as normal, rather than being in hospital just to receive IV antibiotics. This also benefits the hospital as beds can be used for other patients with more critical needs.

You can hear more about OPAT and the benefits here.