Publish date: 24 October 2024
Northumbria Healthcare welcomes NHS colleagues from across the country to share best practice on virtual ward success and look to the future of this innovative model of care
Northumbria Healthcare introduced virtual wards to the trust in 2022, the concept is described as a safe and efficient alternative to NHS bedded care that is enabled by technology. Virtual wards, also known as hospital at home services, support patients who would otherwise be in hospital to receive the acute care, monitoring and treatment they need in the comfort of their own home. This includes either preventing avoidable admissions into hospital or supporting early discharge out of hospital.
Since its introduction to the trust, Northumbria Healthcare has treated many patients within the comfort of their own home. The service has been welcomed by patients with many describing the care as top-class and being able to be treated in a familiar environment, with the help of their loved ones has been beneficial to their recovery. Attendees were able to learn about these success stories through interactive workshops focused on the key clinical areas delivered through virtual wards including respiratory, frailty and general medicine.
The event, which was held on Tuesday 8 October at St James Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne, was opened by chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Birju Bartoli. Birju shared the progress of virtual wards and how Northumbria had successfully delivered high-quality and safe care to patients in their own homes. She also mentioned the challenges faced in delivering this model of care including clinical and organisational scepticism towards the concept and time is needed to demonstrate the full benefits.
This was followed by a presentation from Dr Cath Monaghan, clinical lead for Virtual Wards at NHS England. Dr Monaghan focused on the current picture nationally of virtual wards, highlighting the benefits for patients including avoiding potential harms in hospital settings such as falls and delirium and freeing up physical beds for those who require in-patient admission.
Talking about the benefits of virtual ward care for patients, Dr Monaghan said: “Hospital-at- home services align with a lot of the national drivers including the recently published Darzi report which focuses on moving care into the community and closer to home for patients. It’s a way of delivering safe, quality care without the risks associated with a hospital admission including hospital-acquired infections.”
Furthermore, Dr Monaghan expressed the importance of learning events like this one to share knowledge and experience: “It’s important for NHS colleagues to come together to help debunk negativity around the concept. A big focus of today has been about sharing positive and negative experiences, discussing what we can learn from these experiences and taking forward ideas to improve the future of hospital-at-home care.”
Several themes emerged throughout the day with the focus being on how NHS trusts can work together to implement a successful virtual ward that benefits patients and their families.
Professor Paul Paes, associate medical director at Northumbria Healthcare added: “Having events like this enable us to work with colleagues around the country and understand what people are doing, how they are creating new models of care and to learn from each other.
“Our aim for this national event has been to help colleagues to share best practice. We hope the outputs will disperse across the country to make a success of virtual wards and build that into the future of patient care.”
Northumbria Healthcare has committed to delivering another year of its virtual ward service and over the past 18 months has expanded to seven types of virtual wards, treating over 200 patients a month.
Media contact
Emily Lavin, marketing and communications officer
emily.lavin@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk