A new pilot at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is making life simpler for patients who get denosumab injections to help strengthen and protect their bones during cancer treatment.
Suitable patients are being offered the opportunity to try giving themselves their denosumab treatment at home (known as ‘self-administration’) instead of visiting hospital once a month for an injection from a nurse.
Denosumab injections are very easy to use. Yet, until recently, patients have had to make a special journey to hospital each month just to have a quick injection that takes less than five minutes.
Feedback from the first patients on the self-administration pilot has been fantastic with every single person saying they prefer injecting themselves and love the fact it saves them from unnecessary hospital visits.
Rachael Gregory, Clinical Services Manager for Clatterbridge in the Community, our 'treatment at home' service, said:
We are always looking at how we can make life easier for patients. The response so far from patients on this pilot has been overwhelmingly positive, which is really great and we are keen to see how it develops as more people take part.
Patient's story: 'The whole process is very simple'
About two years ago, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer that had gone into my bones. I am on chemo and was told it was advisable to have denosumab as well to help look after my bones.
I have chemo once a week and had been making an extra trip to hospital each month for my denosumab injection. Then I was told there was an opportunity for me to try doing the injection myself at home and I jumped at it. I wasn’t scared at all. The nurse showed me exactly what to do, step by step, and then I gave it a go myself in the hospital in front of her, right there and then.
The whole process is very simple and takes less than five minutes. You get a little treatment pack with everything in. Once I’ve laid it all out and cleaned my tummy with a sterile wipe, I just pop the needle into my tummy and that’s it. It doesn’t hurt – I just glide it in slowly and breathe through it.
The needle automatically pops back into the casing after you’ve given the treatment so there are no sharp bits and I dispose of it in a little needle box from the hospital that I can give back to them when it’s full.
Having patients give themselves this treatment is a marvellous idea. It’s a lot more comfortable because you can do it in your own time in your own home – for example, while you’re sitting watching telly in your pyjamas. It’s so much easier than having to go to hospital.
I’d recommend it to anyone who is offered the opportunity. Even if you’re not sure, just give it a go with a nurse. If you don’t like it, you can carry on getting the injections done by a nurse but I think it’s fantastic.
