We hoped you enjoyed the recent 11th NIVAS Conference that took place on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd June 2023 at the Novotel London West Hotel.

NIVAS along with other healthcare organisations are interested in your current approaches to non-cancer extravasation management prior to launching an educational initiative . We would be grateful if you would complete this short survey . It is anonymous and will take 2-3 minutes.

NIVAS is proud to launch its white paper on “The Benefits of a Nursing Led Vascular Access Service Team”. Ensuring safe vascular access is a fundamental part of the care of many hospital patients with up to 90% of inpatients requiring intravenous access for delivery of fluids, medication and/or blood sampling. Yet, there remains significant variation in the provision of vascular access services in the NHS resulting in longer hospital stays and an increased cost to the NHS. This white paper outlines a standardized structure and approach for the NHS to deliver vascular access services in every hospital.

A message from the Chair

I hope this message finds you and your services recovering well from the pandemic. I wanted to update you about some of the recent work NIVAS has been doing.

Before the pandemic NIVAS we starting to work on national guidelines for vascular access and IV therapy and the creation of a nationally accredited qualification for vascular access. I am very pleased to tell you the board has started working on these projects in earnest. We have completely mapped out the national guidelines and started to populate the data and evidence needed to produce these. These guidelines will form the basis of the content for the national vascular access qualification. This forms a 3 year plan to improve safety nationally in relation to IV therapy and vascular access practice.

NIVAS is still working hard to promote your interests nationally in relation to IV therapy and vascular access practice and will continue to do so. As you will know, procuring IV therapy and vascular access products has been a problem over the past few months with the most commonly used devices not being available via NHS supply chain. This shortage or devices such as cannula, venepuncture sets and 10ml saline ampules have made good practice in IV therapy and vascular access harder to maintain but not impossible thankfully. A couple of things to remember is that not all needle free connectors are Aurum glass syringe prefilled emergency drug compatible, NIVAS is still working with MHRA and NHS I/E. It important to be aware of issues like this because if your usually needle free connector becomes unavailable, care should be taken to replace it with a like for like product.

Training Material Links

Please click here for the User guide HULL VP7000 Training Guide V1 150321 MJD

Please click here for the User guide SinoMed Volumetric pump SN-1800V User manual

Please click here for the User guide Medcaptain MP-30 Syringe Pump - User manual

Welcome to NIVAS

Welcome to the website of NIVAS, the independent and multi-professional society specialising in vascular access and infusion therapies.

NIVAS is the first independent multi-professional society to be founded in the UK in this century. It is the new voice for all those involved in vascular access and infusion therapies. The society was founded in July 2009 in order to promote excellence in this specialised field of patient care. We believe that we can advance practice through communication, collaboration and education.

As infusion therapy and vascular access continues to evolve, there is a need, now more than ever, for a co-ordinated approach to practice amongst healthcare professionals across the UK. The formation of a society and an annual conference is vital to ensure success in the specialty and quality care for patients. NIVAS hopes to engage nurses, anaesthetists, radiologists, microbiologists, pharmacists and other health professionals involved in the insertion and management of vascular access and infusion therapy.

NIVAS recognises the important role that you as an individual can play in advancing this specialty and would encourage your involvement with the society.