Intravenous Therapy Service

The term intravenous (IV) is used when medication is given into a vein through an IV line. Through the team, these medications can be given to you in your home (or a community clinic) instead of you needing to stay in hospital or visit hospital.

An TC-IV Nurse must agree eligibility and an assessment will be made after acceptance of referrals. Key criteria are:

• The patient must be aged 18 and over (16-18 at consultant lead discretion) and registered with a Trafford GP
• The patient does not require emergency input
• The patient’s environment must be safe and the patient able to care for themselves or is supported by family (the team will carry out an assessment).

Through the expert team, intravenous medications can be given to people in their home (or a community clinic) instead of them needing to stay in hospital or visit hospital for the treatment.

The duration of treatment will depend on the course of medication that is prescribed and how the person responds to the treatment – blood monitoring and response to the treatment is reviewed throughout their care.

The team is a highly skilled team of nurses and advanced practitioners. They work closely with local GPs, consultants, hospital teams and pharmacists to provide the service.

People who may refer to the service include:

• General Practitioners
• Infection specialists
• Acute hospital specialist medicine teams and specialist nursing teams
• General hospital teams
• Community teams including district nurses, intermediate care, community palliative care teams and other community teams
• Nursing Homes
• Palliative Care teams
• Podiatry
• Patient self-referral
• Out-of-area hospitals (to support repatriation of patients registered with a Trafford GP).