P14 Auditing the outcomes of the OPAT service of a London teaching hospital during the period of 2024

Sep 29, 2026

Audit of the Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) service at a London teaching hospital across 2024. A retrospective review of electronic notes captured patients receiving IV or complicated oral antimicrobials and extracted clinical data on readmission, treatment failure and adverse events. Outcomes were benchmarked against UK good-practice recommendations, reporting treatment success, complication rates and common indications to support quality improvement decisions and multidisciplinary delivery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Posters Abstract citation ID: dlaf239.018 P14 Auditing the outcomes of the OPAT service of a London teaching hospital during the period of 2024 Adam Stafford1, Hannah Kershaw1, Winifred Magambo-Gasana1, Annette Vanhein-Wallace1, Rebecca Lester1, Antonia Scobie1, Natasha Karunaharan1, Lucy Lamb1, Stephen Mepham1, Cordelia Coltart1, Sophie Collier1 1Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK Objectives: We aimed to audit the Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) service at a London teaching hospital during 2024, in-line with the outcome monitoring set out in the Updated good practice recommendations for OPATin adults and children in the UK (Chapman et al., 2019) Methods: We performed a retrospective review of electronic notes of all patients on the OPAT service during 2024 who had received either IVor complicated oral antimicrobials, deﬁned as ‘oral regimens that require speciﬁc monitoring or associated with particular risk of toxicity’ (Chapmen et al., 2019) . We extracted relevant clinical data to assess rates of readmission, treatment failure and adverse events. Results: Data from 162 patients was audited: 100 male and 62 female, with a median age of 62 . 124 patients received IV antimicrobials, and 38 complicated oral antimicrobials – namely linezolid, co-trimoxazole and oral antifungals. The most common indications for IV antimicrobials were bronchiectasis (19%), pyelonephritis (12%) and liver abscesses (12%); with the most common indication for oral antimicrobials being diabetic foot infection (36%) . The most commonly used IV antimicrobials were ertapenem (n=32), ceftriaxone (n=32) and ceftazidime (n=25) . Of those on IV antimicrobials, 62%(n= 77) were being treated with the aim of cure, 19%(n=19) improvement, and 8.9%(n=11) with palliative intent. In 87%(n= 108) of Posters these patients, the treatment aim was attained; this was without any complications in 74%(n=80). Of those who did not attain their treatment aim, the majority (57%) were in the palliative cohort. The most common complications were adverse drug reactions (11% of all patients) and line-related complications (6.5%) . 16 patients (13%) were readmitted to hospital, all for a period of over 24 h. There was one case of Clostridium difﬁcile infection, but no Staphylococcus aureus line-infections or death. Of those on complicated oral antimicrobials, 84%(n=32) were being treated with the aim of cure and 16%(n=6) with the aim of improvement. In 86%(n=33) of these patients, the treatment aim was attained; this was without complications in 66%(n=22) . 11 patients (29%) suffered adverse drug reactions, but there were no other complications noted. No patients were readmitted to hospital. Conclusions: The heterogenous nature of published studies of OPAT data, combined with the difference in patient populations and collection methods makes direct comparisons difﬁcult; nevertheless, the outcome data from our audit shows high rates of treatment success and low readmission and complication rates on par with other UK studies. Benchmarking against national data remains valuable in identifying areas for quality improvement, and our audit highlights the importance of multi-disciplinary team working for the successful running of an OPAT service.

FAQs

What was the objective of the OPAT audit in 2024?

The audit aimed to evaluate the outcomes of the OPAT service during 2024, aligned with UK updated good-practice recommendations for adults and children.

How were patients included and what outcomes were assessed?

Patients who received IV or complicated oral antimicrobials in 2024 were included. The review assessed readmission rates, treatment failure and adverse events using extracted clinical data from electronic notes.

What did the audit find about treatment success and complications?

Most patients had their treatment aim attained (87% overall) with no complications reported in 74%. The most common complications were adverse drug reactions (11% of all patients) and line-related complications (6.5%).

Were there readmissions and were any severe infections or deaths observed?

Sixteen patients (13%) were readmitted for more than 24 hours. One case of Clostridium difficile infection occurred, with no Staphylococcus aureus line infections and no deaths reported.

Sep 29, 2026

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