New report: Virtual Wards having a positive impact on patient care
Since the start of the region’s Virtual Wards Programme, over 110,000 patients in the South East have been able to receive hospital level urgent care from their home.
The programme launched in April 2022, and whilst some patients are transferred to a virtual ward after an initial stay in hospital (as an ‘early supported discharge’), the majority of patients have been able to avoid any kind of hospital admission as part of their spell of care.
A recent independent evaluation by PPL of the South East programme analysed over 22,000 spells of care and found that virtual wards in South East England are associated with a positive impact on non-elective (NEL) hospital activity. On average one NEL admission ‘avoided’ was shown to be correlated with 2.5 virtual ward admissions, with some more mature virtual wards achieving a 1:1 association between the ‘avoided’ non-elective admissions and virtual ward activity.
NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board (ICB) oversees a capacity for over 200 virtual ward patients at any one time, and it has helped more than 12,000 patients stay out of hospital in the last two years. Frimley's virtual wards have one of the highest utilisation rates in the South East, consistently outperforming the national target of 80% occupancy.
Dr Lalitha Iyer, Frimley ICB’s Chief Medical Officer, said: ''The evaluation highlights the positive impact virtual wards can have for our patients through avoiding hospital admissions and allowing them to be treated at home.
“This large-scale evaluation supports Frimley’s ambition to develop further our out-of-hospital offer, which uses remote monitoring to support patients to remain in their own homes. It's also encouraging to see that virtual wards help reduce the demand in our hospitals.''
Dr Syed Hasan, South East Virtual Wards and Virtual Care Lead, said: “Feedback from patients, carers and clinicians across the South East tells us that people prefer this delivery of care for their relatives. I am delighted that this unique evaluation has shown that virtual wards work in the South East, and that their expansion is good for patients and good for the NHS.”
The evaluation showed that patient experience of virtual ward services is generally positive, it states: “Patients articulate an appreciation for home-based care, being closer to family and more comfortable than in an acute hospital setting.”
PPL Senior Advisor and former Nuffield chief exec, Nigel Edwards, said: “PPL has been working on virtual wards since their inception, which is why we’re incredibly proud to be launching the South East Region virtual wards evaluation report with NHS England today. The report is a culmination of nine months of work to assess the impact of virtual wards on activity, expenditure, and quality in the South East of England.
“It contains key lessons around what makes an effective virtual ward, including how to make these models work for the wider health and care system as well as for patients, enabling them to remain at home whilst receiving hospital care.
“As part of our evaluation work, we looked at cases where the ability to assess patients in their own home enabled a much better understanding of their reality and the context of their condition to inform appropriate care. We believe this is the largest evaluation of its kind into virtual wards, giving us the most complete picture to date of the impact of them in the UK.”