A new specialist team has been set up at Royal Bolton Hospital which will aim at reducing surgery backlogs and waiting times.
The IV Access Team will use specialist equipment to insert tube lines into vulnerable patients veins to help them take IV drugs like antibiotics, chemotherapy or total parenteral nutrition.
This will help to free up anaesthetic time and allow more operations to take place.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Wyn Price said: “The IV Access Team have developed a team that is reactive to patients’ need for IV access and reduces patient discomfort, enables timely treatment and earlier discharge.
“They have reduced the workload on the anaesthetic department to give patients the service they deserve.”
The new nurse led team started work last November but celebrated its official launch earlier this month.
They have already succeed in inserting 79 lines in that time, despite the target for the whole year being just 150.
This has already helped to ensure that most lines are inserted within 48 hours, reducing the wait for patients by as much as five days.
Specialist nurse Heather Briscoe said: “I am extremely proud of what my team has done so far and how much we’ve helped the Bolton community.
“I’m so glad to work at a trust which shows how much it cares about its patients and their needs by investing in specialist services like ours, embracing new technology and recognising the value in evidence-based practice.”
As well as inserting lines the team has also been working to provide training to other staff members to help them provide ongoing care.
Divisional nursing director for diagnostics and support services Rick Catlin said: “The new IV Access Team is already making a huge difference for so many of our patients, helping them to be seen sooner and get home sooner.
“Their expertise and dedication is drastically improving patient experience and providing an incredibly high level of care for them.”
Officials at the trust hope that the new team’s efforts will be a significant boost to their efforts at clearing Bolton’s surgery waiting list backlog.
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Divisional director of operations Ryan Calderbank said: “We are always looking for ways to improve the services we provide to our patients, and the new IV Access Team are a clear example of this.
“Before the team began work, a theatre space used to be needed if a patient was undergoing acute treatment, was difficult to access or hard to cannulate, but this can now be quickly done on our wards.
“Not needing to use theatres for this work now means vital theatre space can be used for others, as well as giving more capacity for Anaesthetists and Operating Department Practitioners to support with other theatre lists.”
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