A nurse-led service for tunnelled central venous catheter insertion.

The procedure of inserting tunnelled central venous catheters was once carried out by surgeons or radiologists at Glasgow NHS Trust. However, increased workloads meant that these health care professionals were left with less time to devote to these procedures, which resulted in unacceptable waiting times for those requiring them. After visiting several centres in England where nurses were already successfully inserting tunnelled central venous catheters with impressive audit results, we decided to set up a similar service. Following a successful bid for funding we now have a nurse-led service for the insertion of tunnelled central venous catheters with minimal waiting times and low complication rates.