DIY Injections Save £300k

An award-winning project that is empowering patients to administer their own intravenous antibiotics at home is reportedly saving Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Using demonstration videos and practising on a model plastic arm using expired or returned medication, patients and their relatives are taught to self-administer intravenous (IV) antibiotics, enabling them to go home earlier from hospital.

The patients are then able to administer the IV antibiotics through an intravenous line in their arm from the comfort of their own home.

In the first nine months, the project has saved over £300,000 according to the Trust, and reduced patients’ length of stay in hospital by more than 2,500 days.

The project is the brainchild of Dr Emma Nickerson, a consultant in infectious diseases and an antibiotic guardian, who oversaw the creation of eight videos by CUH’s in-house design team, Media Studio, and is provided through the Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy (OPAT) service.

She said: “The initiative has been embraced by patients who want to be at home as early as possible and is helping the hospital with both its capacity and finances – so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.

“I came up with the idea as I was seeing lots of patients who were in hospital only to finish their course of antibiotics and they were otherwise clinically fit to go home.

“I felt simple, clear instructional videos and a model arm for extra practice would allow patients to go home earlier and I’ve been really pleased with the success of the project.”

Benjamin Usedon, 29, from Clacton, is one such patient. He left hospital and was able to self-administer the antibiotics for four weeks before switching to tablet antibiotics.

“I found the video demonstration very easy to follow and I was able to comfortably give the IV antibiotics for two days before I came off them,” Benjamin said.

“When you start to feel better in hospital you just want to get home as early as possible and these videos help us do that.”

The project won the award for Service Improvement at last month’s Health Enterprise East Innovation Ceremony.

Latest Issues

AfPP Regional Conference – Nottingham

Business School, University of Nottingham
20th September 2025

Clinical Engineering Conference

Stansted Radisson Blu
23rd September 2025

Infection Prevention 2025

Brighton Centre, UK
29th - 30th September 2025

AfPP Regional Conference – Oxford

Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
4th October 2025

BACCN Conference 2025

Blackpool
7th - 8th October 2025

CSC Autumn Meeting

Ramada Plaza, Wrexham
13th October 2025