Official opening of the Central Venous Access department

On Thursday 26 June 2008 the Central Venous Access (CVA) department officially opened by Dr Mike Lindop, a founder member of the team who has now retired, on level 4 of Addenbrooke's Hospital. The chief executive Dr Gareth Goodier joined members of clinical staff to celebrate this opening and have a good look around the new department.

Although the CVA team was established in January 2006, it is now the first in the country to have its own department consisting of a theatre suite and four-bed recovery unit. It also provides both an inpatient and outpatient service for patients who require central venous access lines to be inserted. Due to the number of specialties within the Trust, many patients require central venous access lines for treatments such as chemotherapy, for nutritional purposes, or for monitoring critically ill patients.

This dedicated CVA suite provides all the facilities required for the insertion and maintenance of central venous lines in order to improve patient experience and ensure patient safety by preventing line-associated bloodstream infections. The CVA service has already been very instrumental in helping to reduce MRSA infections by 49% in 2007/08, compared to only a 9% reduction in 2005/06 prior to the introduction of this service.