From Hospitals to Homes: Vygon Product Range
Discover how Vygon’s patient-led products are helping the NHS provide essential treatments at home.
According to the NHS, “more than 100,000 patients have been treated in NHS virtual wards in the last year, with 16,000 patients treated in January alone (NHS 2023)”1. Virtual wards allow patients to get hospital-level care at home safely and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up their recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients that need them most1. Vygon UK has been working with the NHS and healthcare industries for the past 50 years and has a range of products facilitating long-term treatment options, supporting virtual wards and home therapies.
“This is beneficial to patients as, rather than going into hospital for potentially lengthy stays, they can stay at home, receive excellent care and be monitored closely in familiar surroundings.” - Sayanthan Ganesaratnam (GP)1
Our philosophy of Value Life extends beyond hospitals and trusts, bringing the Value Life mindset into patients' homes by providing products and services to enable safe and effective care to continue, allowing patients to be discharged earlier and return home for treatments. With patient care at the heart of our philosophy, we are constantly evolving both ourselves and our product offering and created our Home Delivery service to support patients, community nursing teams, and the NHS through our range of outpatient products essential to Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) and Out of Hours (OOH) care.
Vygon Products at Home
It is well documented that community nurses are successful in preventing hospital readmissions through the provision of patient care in the comfort of their own homes. Home care has currently become one of the alternative solutions to hospital care because, for patients, home is a place of emotional and physical associations, memories, and comfort2. At Vygon our long-term treatment products are supporting medical teams worldwide to enable their patients to stay home and receive the essential long-term care necessary while reducing hospital stays.
Accufuser Infusion Pump
In 2017, the advantages of our Accufuser Infusion Pump became a talking point throughout the NHS after the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust’s Hospital at Home team saved £1.7m through a pioneering initiative to deliver antibiotic therapies to patients in their own homes3.
Our Accufuser Infusion Pump is designed to provide safe and accurate delivery of continuous flow infusions; suitable for a variety of treatments and therapies, with benefits to both the patient and the hospital trust.
Key Benefits:
- Suitable for OPAT services
- Long-term infusion treatment
- Suitable for antibiotic therapies, chemotherapy, and pain management
- Easy to use for patient & practitioner
- Integrated UV protection for improved medication stability
- Available in a range of sizes and flow rates
“The nurses who developed the system report that patients love it as it keeps them out of hospital, for some this would have meant a six week stay. Plus, the initiative has generated savings on the costs for care, travel, and nursing intervention time.”3
Bionector needle-free device TKO® SAS
Developed from the recommendations for needle-free devices from Global Opinion Leaders, our Bionector TKO® bi-directional device has allowed patients to continue receiving IV therapy while in the comfort of their own homes.
A collaboration between Vygon and the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust to help patients stay at home whilst they receive treatment, used Vygon’s Bionector TKO® to administer IV antibiotics at home. This resulted in saving hospital time, freeing up beds and improving the patient experience.
Bionector TKO® combines the market-leading needle-free device with a valve that simply stops catheter tip reflux, making catheter occlusion a thing of the past. In addition to Bionector being used by Trusts and OPAT teams across the UK, the Bionector TKO® SAS (Self-Administration Sets) enables patients to self-medicate in the comfort of their own homes. Bionector TKO® SAS is transforming the way IV medication can be delivered. By using the Bionector TKO® SAS, patients no longer need to visit the hospital for the therapy to be delivered.
Key Benefits:
- Developed with expert IV Nurse Specialists in Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) teams
- Featured 27cm polyurethane tube for patients to use, reducing the need for a community nurse to be present.
- Used by a range of OPAT teams
- Reduce occlusions by 88%
- TKO: To Keep Open
- SAS: Self-administration set
“… Patients much prefer staying at home to have their IV therapy and hospitals are saving money because this approach requires less nursing time and fewer hospital beds. It really is an innovation to get excited about!”4
MIC-KEY Gastrostomy Feeding Tube
Our MIC and MIC-KEY range of feeding tubes and accessories include the widest range of balloon-retained enteral feeding tubes on the market, helping to meet the feeding, hydration, and venting requirements of your patient. While the transition to enteral feeding may be a big step for both patients and their families; the right enteral feeding equipment and nutrition regime can transform a person’s life.
As each patient's requirement is unique, it is important to have a choice of enteral feeding tubes that will best meet the needs of individuals and their conditions. This is why we offer a complete range of devices and accessories to ensure the best possible care is provided to facilitate the delivery of the enteral nutrition your patient needs for the long term. Our range includes:
- MIC-KEY* Buttons
- MIC* G Tubes
- MIC* GJ Tubes
- Extension sets
“The MIC-KEY was huge in terms of improving the quality of my life. It’s about freedom and mobility.” Rick D
Here at Vygon UK, we have been distributing MIC* and MIC-KEY* products for over 20 years, helping patients regain their freedom while becoming the UK’s market leader for gastrostomy tubes and buttons.
Key Benefits:
- Delivery of enteral nutrition
- Approved for more than 30 days use
- Suitable for adults & paediatrics
- Ease of placement
- Sits at skin level – Low profile so easy to conceal for greater device discretion
- Radiopaque striping – Allows clear fluoroscopic visualisation during initial placement
- High-performing anti-reflux valve, preventing backflow of gastric contents
- Recessed atraumatic tip – Prevents irritation of the opposite stomach wall and allows the balloon to invert within the shaft of the tube reducing discomfort on removal
- Tapered distal tip matching tube size – Allows easy, atraumatic insertion without stiffener
Vygon Services Supporting at Home Care:
We offer further services for home delivery patients to support clinicians working alongside them. By providing these benefits to the patient, clinicians know that patients are continually supported with access to valuable resources and materials.
Alongside our world-class products, we offer:
- Training & Education: Including workbooks and patient guides, as well as instructions on how to clean and take care of their devices.
- Patient Support: We have additional supporting resources like our children's storybook about the adventures of Billie Bionector and friends and how they use their superpowers to fight germs and play key roles in IV therapy.
- Home Delivery: For patients requiring long-term treatment we’ve focused on a first-rate home delivery service making sure that delivery dates and times are convenient, to give them one less thing to worry about.
- Emergency helpline: We know patients might have questions regarding their products; therefore, we have a dedicated customer helpline to answer any questions about products and accessories.
Once in use, our products are supported through in-hospital training for healthcare professionals. For some products, we also run specialist workshops, the proceeds of which are given to charity. We are also accredited by the Royal College of Nursing for our range of IVT courses.
“Vygon have always led the way in patient and staff education, their products are of good quality as is their education.” - William Scroggs, Midline Team leader Queens’ Hospital Burton-on-Trent
Every second of every day, four Vygon products are used somewhere in the world, so whether at home or in the hospital, you can be confident in the products used for your care.
References
[1] NHS England, 11 March 2023. World-leading NHS virtual wards treat 100,000 patients in a year. [online] England.nhs.uk. Available at: < https://www.england.nhs.uk/2023/03/world-leading-nhs-virtual-wards-treat-100000-patients-in-a-year/> [Accessed 17 March 2023] Information from the NHS website is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
[2] Lotfi Fatemi N, Karimi Moonaghi H, Heydari A. Perceived Challenges Faced by Nurses in Home Health Care Setting: A Qualitative Study. Int J Community Based Nurs Midwifery. 2019 Apr;7(2):118-127. doi: 10.30476/IJCBNM.2019.44883. PMID: 31041322; PMCID: PMC6456761.
[3] Vygon’s Accufuser pumps save Trusts money by keeping patients happy in and out of hospital. 2018 April 27.
[4] Vygon collaboration with Royal Devon and Exeter shortlisted for national innovation award. 2017 Sept 12.