Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust has reported on the progress of its community virtual ward service a year after launch, with the trust highlighting how the service has admitted and discharged 1,315 patients in that time.
Since its launch in September 2023, the virtual ward has reportedly helped 79 percent of patients avoid admission to acute or community hospitals when discharged from the service; and saved over 4,500 bed days in acute and community hospitals for Norfolk Community Health and Care.
The service is suitable for adult patients with conditions such as respiratory disease, frailty and heart failure, and can accept referrals from any community setting including care homes and community hospitals.
Virtual wards wider trend
HTN recently reported how Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s heart failure virtual ward has introduced use of the remote monitoring KiActiv digital service, with the aim of improving recovery rates for patients experiencing serious cardiac conditions.
In August, we explored the virtual wards operational framework published by NHS England, which is designed to help support consistency and the achievement of goals set out in the urgent and emergency care recovery plan, and support operational planning guidance around maintaining a virtual ward capacity of over 80 percent.
Also in August HTN hosted a panel discussion on virtual wards with insights shared by Heather Young, virtual ward programme manager at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Christina (Chris) Prada, virtual ward service lead at Northampton General Hospital. They discussed key successes of their programmes, the challenges they have faced and how they have tackled them, thoughts on getting staff on board with virtual wards, and more.
Other news in this space includes West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals rising 102nd place in trust rankings for A&E waiting times to seventh place in two years and citing its “virtual hospital” approach as key; and Leeds Teaching Hospitals sharing the impact of the trust’s virtual ward programme earlier in the summer.
Also from Norfolk
In July, we noted an update on plans to implement a shared EPR across Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, James Paget University Hospitals, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, with the full business case receiving approval.
We also took a look at progress around the joint forward plan from Norfolk and Waveney ICS here.
