How virtual wards are revolutionising healthcare
In March over 100,000 patients had been treated in virtual wards in the previous year, significantly reducing pressure on the availability of hospital beds.
There are now over 340 virtual ward programmes across England, providing a total of 7,653 virtual beds. In January, as part of its NHS Delivery Plan for Recovering Emergency Care Services, the NHS committed to further expanding the number of virtual wards to provide over 10,000 virtual beds in total by this autumn, with an ambition to enable healthcare staff to care for up to 50,000 patients a month in the longer term.
What is a virtual ward?
Enabled by technology, virtual wards provide hospital-level care from nurses and doctors, including diagnostics and treatment, while allowing patients to remain in the comfort of their own homes. In some cases, virtual wards can replace the need for patients to be admitted to hospital. In other cases, they can make it possible for patients to safely leave hospital sooner.
How are virtual wards staffed?
Patients on virtual wards are cared for by a multi-disciplinary team, including doctors and nurses. Patients are reviewed daily by the clinical team and the ‘ward round’ may take place through video technology or involve a home visit by a community nurse. Many virtual ward nursing staff use technology such as apps, wearables and other medical devices to enable them to easily check and monitor a patient’s care and recovery.
How will virtual wards change nursing roles?
Some nursing jobs will inevitably be transformed by the greater use of virtual wards. Reducing the need for regular face-to-face contact with patients can reduce the risk of infection for both patients and nurses. Virtual wards can reduce pressure on healthcare staff and free up hospital beds, but still enable effective monitoring of patients, so that clinical decisions can be made quickly and appropriately.
£200 million of funding was made available in 2022-23 to support the development of virtual wards, with a further £250 million available on a match-funding basis for 2023-24. It’s expected that most of the funding allocation will be spent on workforce pay costs to fund the staffing models required for virtual wards. Therefore, opportunities for virtual ward nursing jobs are likely to increase significantly. Virtual wards create a bridge between community and hospital care. Therefore, the skills and experience of both hospital and community nurses are relevant to virtual ward jobs.
“The advantages of virtual wards for both staff and patients have been a real game-changer for the way hospital care is delivered,” said Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director. “With up to a fifth of emergency hospital admissions estimated to be avoided through better supporting vulnerable patients at home and in the community, these world leading programmes are making a real difference not just to the people they directly benefit but also in reducing pressure on wider services.”
