National award for innovative home care service

Dr Tamsin Cargill, a hepatology specialty registrar at Oxford University Hospitals, has won a national award for leading an innovative service that delivers specialist liver care in patients’ homes.

Dr Cargill and the team received the 2025 Quality and Service Improvement in Hepatology Award at the Dr Falk UK/BASL/BLT Awards for the project Hepatology at Home: a novel pathway for the integrated management of patients with liver disease in the home.

The initiative introduced a Hospital at Home (H@H) service for patients with chronic liver disease, enabling even those with serious complications to avoid hospital admission. The service is delivered by OUH’s wider H@H team.

H@H nurses or doctors provide clinical assessment and point-of-care diagnostics – including ultrasound and blood tests – in the patient's home. Treatments include intravenous medications such as crystalloid fluid, albumin, iron, antibiotics and diuretics.

Patients are jointly reviewed in bi-weekly multidisciplinary meetings jointly attended by H@H and hepatology specialists to agree an overarching management plan.

In its first year (April 2024-April 2025), the service supported 40 patients across 67 episodes of care, saving a cumulative 269 hospital bed days, helping the Trust to move more care from hospitals to communities and people's homes.

Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. One patient described having a paracentesis – a procedure to remove fluid from the abdomen – at home rather than in hospital as "amazing". Patients report feeling more comfortable and value spending precious time at home with family instead of travelling and waiting on hospital wards.

Dr Cargill said: "This award recognises the dedication and hard work of the entire Hepatology at Home team, who have embraced new skills for a different patient group. It’s a testament to the vision and forward thinking of all involved.

"For me, and I think for all involved, it’s a privilege to offer patients real choice about where they receive care. Often, as healthcare professionals, we can't do that – so having this opportunity and these resources feels incredibly rewarding."

Other members of the winning team from OUH are Bryony Chapman (Hepatology Advanced Nurse Practitioner), Dr Samuel Mills (Clinical Fellow), Dr Jeremy Cobbold (Hepatology Clinical Lead) and Professor Daniel Lasserson (Hospital at Home Physician).

The awards are run by the British Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL), British Liver Trust (BLT) and Dr Falk Pharma, celebrating innovation and excellence in hepatology.