Thu 22 May 2025 09:00-16:40
Online Conference, 6 CPD Hours

Benchmark your OPAT pathways: enhance your knowledge, share best practice and discover strategies to develop your service in a one-day immersive event

Book your place to see what other services and professionals across the United Kingdom do and learn from their first-hand experiences. Benefit an impressive, interactive and informative networking forum which will enable you to benchmark your service, improve communication and referrals and standardise practice.

Sponsored by:

Developing Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) Pathways
Online 6 CPD hours £49+VAT

6 hours Continuing Professional Development: what you will learn

Join this relevant and interesting one day course promoting networking and collaboration with a focus on sharing best practice to enable you to tackle challenges with tried solutions.

  • Engage and share your challenges with OPAT teams from around the UK
  • Develop your elastomeric device pathways
  • Benchmark and improve your use of vascular access devices (VAD)
  • Streamline your referral pathways to ensure maximum capacity
  • Enhance your care through networking and key examples of best practice
  • Ensure safe and quality care through enhancing your virtual wards

Attend this online course with convenience in mind

Packed with examples of best practice, and expert advice, plus benefit from:

  • Meeting and engaging with fellow OPAT teams – network with NHS Professionals all over the country 
  • Listening and watching presentations and speakers’ Q&A – Ask those burning questions to understand other services
  • Taking part in facilitated interactive sessions – discuss hot topics and hear how different trusts are tackling them
  • Feeding back and engaging – using the chat box and moderators sharing content to ensure you get the most out of this day

With thanks to our sponsor

SBK Healthcare would like to thank Baxter for sponsoring this forum. 


Invitation to sponsor

If you would like more information on our sponsorship options an in-house forum or if you wish to discuss your needs and what solutions may be appropriate for your business, please contact: 

Vanessa Pearce

Contact: 01732 897788 

Email: vanessa.pearce@sbk-healthcare.co.uk

9:00
Join, tech support and opportunity to network in breakout rooms
  • Who are you and where are you from?
  • What are your current challenges and what would you like to achieve today?
9:30
Chair’s opening remarks and introductions
Melissa Franklin, Clinical Educator for Intravenous Therapy, Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Establishing referral pathways for maximum buy-in
9:40
Exploring strategies to increase referrals to maximise capacity in your OPAT service
  • Ensuring clear and effective pathways for referring to OPAT
  • Improving signposting and guidance to build confidence and secure buy-in from consultants
  • Case Study: How one team increased referrals into OPAT
Vikki Connell, Lead Pharmacy Technician for Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) and OPAT, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
10:10
Questions and answers with your speakers
10:20
Interactive discussion: How to increase referrals to your OPAT service
  • Share your OPAT capacity challenges and how many patients you currently have under your service
  • How are you working to increase the number of referrals you receive? How has this worked so far?
  • How do you demonstrate the need for your OPAT service through referral rates?
10:40
Feedback on interactive discussion: How to increase referrals to your OPAT service
10:50
Sponsorship presentation with Baxter
11:00
Sponsorship presentation opportunity
Please contact Vanessa Pearce for more information. Vanessa.Pearce@sbk-healthcare.co.uk or 01732 897788
11:10
Meet the sponsors
11:20
Screen break
Standardising use of Vascular Access Devices (VAD)
11:30
Improving infection prevention and enhanced maintenance of VAD
  • Best practice for inserting VAD and proper flushing protocols
  • Minimising VAD complications: leaks, blockages and infection
  • Exploring and understanding the guidance around removal of VAD
Andrew Barton, Nurse Consultant, Chair of the National Infusion and Vascular Access Society (NIVAS) Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
12:00
Optimising Vascular Access Delivery lines: complications and management strategies
  • Identifying VAD complications in the community and hospital
  • Evidence-based solutions for overcoming common VAD complications and challenges
  • Case study: reducing challenges associated with Catheter-related venous thrombosis (DVT)
Jayne Stevenson, COPAT Specialist Nurse Practitioner, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
12:30
Questions and answers with your speakers
12:40
Lunch break
1:10
Interactive discussion: Building a successful business case for developing your OPAT service
  • Share your current approach to curating your business case. What have you learnt so far?
  • What have been your challenges when creating a business case to develop your service? How have you worked to overcome them?
1:30
Feedback on interactive discussion: Building a successful business case for developing your OPAT service
Establishing an elastomeric device pathway
1:40
Utilising elastomeric devices to reduce hospital time and get patients home faster
  • Supporting self and parental administration using elastomeric devices
  • Improving procurement of devices and overcoming associated challenges
  • Case study: how to implement a successful elastomeric device pathway
Julie Statham, OPAT Team Manager and Pharmacist Advanced Clinical Practitioner, and Rachel Kenion, Advanced Clinical Practitioner OPAT, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
Achieving enhanced self-administration competency
2:10
Developing self-administration training to increase competency and capacity
  • Understanding the impact of self-administration on safety, monitoring financial, staffing and capacity pressures
  • Overcoming challenges to implement a self-administration pathway and increase competency
  • Case Study: exploring real-world challenges and benefits of OPAT self-administration
Lyndsay Rignall, Matron, Intermediate Care Team, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
2:40
Questions and answers with your speakers
2:50
Interactive discussion: Incorporating elastomeric devices into your OPAT service
  • Share your elastomeric device procurement challenges and how you are working to overcome them?
  • Have you established an elastomeric device pathway? What does the pathway look like?
3:10
Feedback on interactive discussion: Incorporating elastomeric devices into your OPAT service
3:20
Screen break
Integrating with virtual wards
3:30
Interactive discussion: Implementing virtual wards to support your OPAT team
  • Share your OPAT team’s relationship with virtual wards. Do you use them? What has been your experience?
  • Describe any benefits or challenges you have found using virtual wards within your team
  • How will you look to incorporate them further going forward?
3:50
Feedback on interactive discussion: Implementing virtual wards to support your OPAT team
4:00
Case study: How to incorporate virtual wards into your OPAT service
  • Explore how you can utilise virtual wards and assessing the benefits
  • Develop your virtual wards to improve patient experience and, reduce early and incorrect discharge into OPAT
  • Case Study: lesson-learnt from how one team incorporated virtual wards into their service
Jennifer Musgrave, Ward Manager, Acute Hospital at Home, Northern Services, Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
4:30
Questions and answers with your speakers
4:40
Chairs’ closing remarks and close of day

Your speaker line-up:


Job Title:
Clinical Educator for Intravenous Therapy
Organisation
Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Job Title:
Lead Pharmacy Technician for Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) and OPAT
Organisation
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
Biography

Vikki Connell is the lead pharmacy technician for AMS and OPAT at the University Hospitals of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust in Staffordshire. After working 15 years in community pharmacy as a pharmacy technician, Vikki made the move into the secondary care field in 2018, working as a pharmacy technician. She gained her accreditation for Checking (ACT) qualification and then became a Medicines Management Pharmacy Technician (MMT). Vikki moved into her current position in 2022, where she has strived for the improvement of OPAT services within her Trust and works closely with the OPAT CNSs to help deliver the best service possible to their patients. They have initiated several workstreams to make these improvements and are always striving to do better for their patients. They are still working on improving the service but also want to share their experiences with others to help grow OPAT services around the Country.


Job Title:
Nurse Consultant and Chair
Organisation
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust and National Infusion and Vascular Access Society (NIVAS)
Biography

Andrew is the founder and lead nurse Consultant for the Hospitals’ Intravenous and Vascular Access Services (IVAS) unit where he manages a large team of vascular access specialist nurses delivering bring a 7-day service,  infusion specialist staff who provide same day IV infusions and other IV therapies and home infection management nurses.

Andrew is expert in placing ports and renal catheters as well as PICCs and places catheters in adults and paediatrics. 

His specialist interest is vascular access technology and is an early adopter of new concepts technology including infrared vein location, biphasic vein amplification, PICC placement and catheter securement. 

Andrew is an experienced national and international speaker and has published extensively in scientific and research journals in the field of vascular access and IV therapy.

He is the chair of NIVAS, the national infusion and vascular access society of the UK.  He is a board member of MEDUSA the national electronic injectable medicines guide, and a global committee member of the World Congress of Vascular Access (WoCoVA).  He is an expert advisor for the health technologies evaluation program for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and an independent consultant for the UK MHRA. (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and for the Health Technology Wales (HTW), a government funded, but independent, health technology assessment organisation

In 2022 he published The Benefits of a Nursing Led Vascular Access Service Team: A White Paper to outline a standardised structure and approach for the NHS to deliver vascular access services in every hospital and in 2024 launched the UK National Extravasation and infiltration toolkit. 

In 2023 Andrew was a finalist in the HSJ Clinical Leader of the year and the Nursing Times Nurse of the year.


Job Title:
COPAT Specialist Nurse Practitioner
Organisation
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Biography

Job Title:
OPAT Team Manager and Pharmacist Advanced Clinical Practitioner
Organisation
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Job Title:
Advanced Clinical Practitioner OPAT
Organisation
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Job Title:
Matron, Intermediate Care Team
Organisation
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Lyndsay Rignall works for the Intermediate Care Team at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The Community Rapid Response & Intermediate Care Team operates as a Virtual Ward across the county, managing patients with sub-acute conditions to aid their recovery from illness or injury within their own homes by preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and reducing length of hospital stay.


Job Title:
Ward Manager, Acute Hospital at Home, Northern Services
Organisation
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Biography

Pricing structure

  • £49 + VAT for one NHS or public sector place

Commercial companies are also invited to sponsor this day, please email Sarah Kemm for further details.

If your funding has not yet been secured or you would like to hold your place with no obligation, you can reserve your place with us. Please email the reservations team at SBK Healthcare with your details:

  • Booking contact: name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Event(s) to reserve for: title and date
  • Delegate details (for each delegate): name, job title, department, email and telephone number
  • Organisation details: name and address

Alternatively you can make a confirmed booking by emailing the above information to the bookings team 

Once you have booked your place, SBK Healthcare will correspond with you using the email address you provided at the time of booking. Within one week of the online conference taking place, you will be sent final details of the course including a full agenda, programme timings and your Zoom joining instructions. This email will include a joining link that can be used to access the conference.

If you have not received your email two days before your event, do check your junk folder then contact SBK Healthcare on 01732 897788.

Practice sessions are available and you will be sent an invitation to join one of our delegate practice sessions. These are optional but great if you are unsure of whether your camera and microphone will work on Zoom. We hold several one hour practice sessions across the week when a member of SBK Healthcare staff will be waiting in Zoom to assist you. Please do pop in, say hello and make sure you are all set for the day.

On the day, when registration starts, you will be able to join the conference by initially entering a waiting room when there may be a short wait. When you are automatically brought back into the conference room for the start of the conference, you will be asked to turn off your camera and microphone so that the chair can start the forum. During each presentation you will be able to ask questions in the chat box function. The forum will include screen breaks, as well as topic themed interactive sessions which will take place in the breakout rooms.

Click here to view the specially created 5-minute video that will walk you through how to get the most out of attending your SBK Healthcare interactive online forum.

Certification of attendance

A certificate for Continuing Professional Development will be given to every fully registered participant who completes the course, as a record of your continuing professional training and development.

Registration fees

You will be sent an instant payment option or invoice on registration. Your payment is required in advance. If your fee has not been received prior to the event, and you are not able to provide a PO or proof of payment, you will be asked to make a credit or debit card payment on the day.

Modify registration

To let us know if your details are not correct when you have already registered, please email the bookings team.

Cancellations and substitutions

A full refund of fees will be made only for cancellations received within the first 48 hours of the booking being made. Notice of cancellation must be received in writing by emailing the bookings team at SBK Healthcare. Should you need to cancel your registration after this date, the registration fee remains payable in its entirety although a substitution will be accepted and conference documentation will be provided. Substitution attendees for delegates unable to attend after registering are acceptable at any time.

Event changes

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the conference organisers to alter the content, speakers or the timing of the programme. We will endeavour to keep you abreast of such changes but any unavoidable change to the format will not constitute a reason to refund the fee. Should the event be postponed, we will endeavour to reschedule the event. If, for reasons beyond the control of the conference organiser, the event is cancelled, a full refund will be made. We do not accept any liability for any incurred costs resulting from a postponement or cancellation.

Privacy notice

To view the details on how your data is being collected and used, please view our Privacy policy

Expected attendees

This online course is ideal for NHS professionals working within Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) services. Come together, with the shared goal of networking and sharing best practice with other: 

  • OPAT and IV Team Clinical Leads and Service Managers
  • Clinical Nurse Specialists and Advance Nurse Practitioners
  • OPAT and IV Therapy Sisters, Matrons and Nurses 
  • Consultants and Consultant Microbiologists 
  • Pharmacists and Pharmacy Leads

Past attendee feedback

Hear how attendees benefited from an educational day of networking and shared examples of great practice:

‘Thank you, I appreciate the work put in - it shows’

Barts Health NHS Trust, Progressing your OPAT & IV Therapy Service, 2024

‘Very well executed’

Western Health and Social Care Trust, Progressing your OPAT & IV Therapy Service, 2024

‘Very informative. Relating to practice and case studies helpful’

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Progressing your OPAT & IV Therapy Service, 2024

‘Great day, enjoyed and gained a lot from partaking’

Guy’s St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Progressing your OPAT & IV Therapy Service, 2024

‘Very informative and recommended for OPAT and vascular access teams’

North East London NHS Foundation Trust, OPAT & IV National Networking Forum, 2022

‘Well organised, varied and interesting. Lots of things to take back to our team’

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, OPAT & IV National Networking Forum, 2022

‘Good learning and networking'

Birmingham Community Health Care NHS Foundation Trust, OPAT & IV National Networking Forum, 2022

View further comments on SBK Healthcare events on Trust Pilot.

With thanks to our sponsor

Baxter are leading global conversations to help improve and personalise healthcare. Insights from patients, healthcare providers and community partners guide their efforts to deliver meaningful innovations that advance healthcare.

Why sponsor?

Our role at SBK Healthcare is to bring industry together with healthcare professionals so that you can educate and inform your audience. These events offering dedicated presentation, Q&A, networking and discussion time, each sponsor will be full immersed into the event and able to effectively engage with your NHS audience.

Interested in having your own event, managed by us?

SBK Healthcare also provides in-house forums. Working closely with you as the client we can research, produce, market and deliver the conference or online forum that best suits the audience and meets your goals.

Reach out today

If you would like more information on our sponsorship options an in-house forum or if you wish to discuss your needs and what solutions may be appropriate for your business, please contact: 

Vanessa Pearce

Contact: 01732 897788 

Email: vanessa.pearce@sbk-healthcare.co.uk