The UK government has announced plans to open up more virtual wards, with an aim to treat up to 50,000 people a month and expand their use for falls and frail patients. The plan is to also expand community services, including falls and frailty teams and urgent community response teams.
The aim of virtual wards is to support mostly elderly patients, as well as those with respiratory conditions, in their own homes rather than hospitals. Doctors and other health staff review their cases each day and patients using wearable devices can report daily readings and results so they can be remotely monitored.
NHS England states there is “growing evidence that these are a safe and efficient alternative to hospital care, particularly for frail patients”.
These efforts aim to reduce intense pressures and record waiting times for NHS services, and ongoing strike action by nurses and ambulance staff.
The expansion of virtual wards would represent a five-fold increase on current volumes. Some 10,000 patients thought to have received care through virtual wards or hospital at home initiatives in December 2022.
On 30th January, Monday, the government and NHS England are expected to publish the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, outlining steps intended to bring waiting times back down.
An NHS England release trailing the report over the weekend stated: “Tens of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people will receive tailored support at home each month as part of a new NHS plan to curb unnecessary trips to hospital, help at-risk patients receive faster treatment and improve ambulance response times.”
The release said additional falls and frailty teams would be in place by ‘next winter’; these will use technology to monitor patients to reduce their risks of falls. These teams join up care by connecting hospital expertise with emergency services and use technology to reduce the risk of falls by remotely monitoring patients.
The release states that supporting vulnerable patients at home and in the community may lead to up to 20% of linked emergency hospital admissions being avoided.
The NHS has already introduced a patchwork of various virtual ward initiatives and pilots to aid with elective recovery efforts following the Covid-19 pandemic.
High-tech virtual wards currently support frail elderly patients or those with acute respiratory infections and cardiac conditions. Patients are reviewed daily by the clinical team who may visit them at home or use video technology to monitor and check how they are recovering.
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