Self-injection safety starts before the needle.

Before you inject

Check the medicine name, strength, prescribed amount, route, expiry date, packaging and appearance against your treatment plan and product instructions. Do not inject a product you cannot identify or that appears damaged or different from its leaflet.

Wash and dry your hands and prepare a clean, well-lit surface. Have the medicine, a new sterile needle or device, product-required cleaning materials and an approved sharps container ready before starting. Never share or reuse a needle, syringe or pen needle.

Use only an injection site approved for that medicine and route. Follow your training for site rotation and avoid skin that is sore, bruised, hard, scarred, inflamed or infected.

Subcutaneous self-injection

A subcutaneous injection delivers medicine into the fatty layer beneath the skin. The correct site, needle angle, skin position and time the device must remain in place vary between products, so the exact instructions must come from your medicine leaflet and training.

Confirm the medicine and prescribed amount again, prepare the site and device as instructed, and complete the injection using the technique demonstrated for that product. Apply gentle pressure with clean gauze if needed and record the medicine, amount, time and site.

Do not apply subcutaneous instructions to an intramuscular, intravenous or otherwise different route. Stop and seek qualified help rather than guessing if the device does not work as expected or you are uncertain how much was delivered.

Aftercare and sharps disposal

Place the used needle, syringe or pen needle directly into an approved sharps container. Do not recap, bend, break or leave a used needle loose, and never place sharps in household rubbish or recycling. Follow your local council, GP, pharmacy or clinical-team arrangements when the container reaches its marked fill line.

Seek prompt clinical advice for worsening or spreading redness, warmth, swelling, pus, fever, severe pain, persistent bleeding or another concerning reaction. Call emergency services for breathing difficulty, swelling of the face, mouth or throat, collapse or signs of a severe allergic reaction.