Can home parenteral nutrition be provided by non-specialised centres? 2300 weeks of experience at a district general hospital in the United Kingdom

Background & aims: Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) is an accepted treatment of intestinal failure but is mostly restricted to a few large specialist centres in the UK. The provision of high-quality HPN is of paramount importance to patients with intestinal failure, but its restriction to large specialist centres limits the number of patients who can receive it. The study aim was to determine if HPN can be effectively administered in a non-specialist centre. Methods: Adult HPN patients at a single District General Hospital in the United Kingdom were analysed by indications, complications and outcome. Results: 2310 patient weeks of HPN were provided to 23 patients, aged 18-80 years with intestinal failure. Catheter infection rate was 0.315 per patient year, with one patient excluded due to persistent nasal digitation. Patients spent 89.96% of their time at home and 82.6% achieved a Karnowsky Index of 70 (generally self-caring or greater). Conclusions: HPN can be practised at non-speciatist District General Hospital level achieving complication rates comparable to large specialist centres, and this tends weight to the argument for a network model to widen provision beyond large tertiary referral specialist centres in the United Kingdom. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. ALI rights reserved.