Culcheth woman pioneers new heart treatment

A 75-year-old Culcheth woman was chosen to be the first patient to take part in an innovative new trial which enables heart patients to be treated at home rather than in hospital.
Josephine Creaghan was identified as being suitable for the trial and was keen to take part because she cares for her husband, who is also in poor health, and did not want to have to go into hospital.
The trial was started through a collaboration between Warrington and Halton hospitals and Bridgewater Community Healthcare, which runs the Warrington Community Intravenous Therapy (IV) Service.
A team of specialist nurses, the IV service prevent hospital admissions and aid the early discharge of a range of hospital patients by providing IV drug treatments in patients’ homes or at the Bath Street Health Centre in Warrington.
Hospital cardiology consultant Dr Ahmed Farag approached the Bridgewater IV team and a new trial was set up to examine the effectiveness of extending their support to patients with heart failure, a condition which results in gross peripheral swelling.
Rebecca Redfern, IV lead nurse for Bridgewater said:“We are always looking to improve our service and offer as much support as we can to aid the recovery of patients in their own homes so they can either leave hospital early or avoid going into hospital altogether. By keeping patients out of hospital and in their own homes, they are more comfortable and rested and they also have a reduced risk of contracting an infection.
“My background is in acute medicine, so I was excited to be approached by Dr Farag to start a small trial of treating patients with heart failure who have swelling in the lower legs. Although this condition would usually be treated using the drug Furosemide administered by IV in hospital, Dr Farag approached us about trialling home treatment for these patients.”
Dr Farag said “Decompensated heart failure is one of the common reasons for prolonged hospital admissions. My idea was to explore whether in suitable selected patients we could avoid hospital admission altogether by safely providing intravenous diuretic injections at home. I was pleased that Bridgewater’s Community IV Team were happy to participate in the project.”
The Community IV Nurses visited Mrs Creaghan twice a day for two days to administer the drug Furosemide and assess her condition. Results were regularly scanned and fed back to the consultant and staff from the team spoke with him regularly through the two days.
After two days Mrs Creaghan’s treatment was completed and her blood pressure and swelling reduced significantly.
She said: “The service has been marvellous. The nurses and Dr Farag were lovely and explained everything to me. I didn’t want to go into hospital so it was nice to be able to stay out of hospital and be treated. It really helped my recovery being at home.”
Nurse Redfern added: “The trial has been really successful and we are currently looking to identify other suitable patients with heart failure as test cases for the innovative trial. If successful, we have the potential to treat more patients in their own homes where they are most comfortable and reduce pressure on our local hospitals.“
Dr Farag said: “I was delighted with the outcome in Mrs Creaghan’s case. The communication with the community IV Team, their professionalism and excellent service, meant that we avoided hospital admission altogether for Josephine.
“We know that every day the patient spends in hospital results in a significant loss of muscle mass, mobility and independence. So by treating the patient at home, we are not only preventing a hospital admission but also preserving the patient’s functional status and existing support for as long as needed.”
To find out more about Warrington’s Community IV Service visit www.bridgewater.nhs.uk/warrington/ivtherapy.