A recent evaluation of the Hospital at Home approach has revealed that 95.8 percent of patients cared for by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust’s Virtual Hospital, prefer using virtual hospital models.
Conducted by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, the study shares a number of key insights when it comes to patient engagement and economic benefits. According to their findings, the trust has saved £1.33 million between April 2023 and April 2024, thanks to the Hospital at Home service, with costs averaging at around £118.49 per bed day, which they have noted is “considerably less than inpatient care of £569”.
The trust has also reported a “significant net financial benefit to the system” despite patients staying longer on the virtual pathway, having saved £486 for every Early Supported Discharge patient and £3,652 for every Admission Avoidance patient.
In terms of patient engagement, 95.8 percent of patients preferred virtual hospital care, with 98.3 percent of them also expressing how safe they feel using the service. The evaluation has also highlighted a lower 90-day mortality rate as a result of the new approach, sitting at a reported 4.4 percent, which includes the number of expected deaths too.
Speaking on the results of the evaluation, Matthew Coats, chief executive officer of West Hertfordshire, said: “This evaluation underlines the enormous value, impact and benefit of the Hospital at Home approach has for patients, health providers and the taxpayer. Not only does it cut admission times and save millions of pounds which can be spent on supporting other vital services, but it also results in an overwhelmingly positive patient experience, which is the most important factor.”
Virtual care across the NHS
For a recent HTN Now webinar on the topic of virtual wards, we were joined by a panel of experts to tackle a range of questions and key debates in the virtual wards space. Our panel shared keen insights into their own approaches, experiences and learnings, while also considering opportunities for future development and the potential for emerging technologies to make an impact across workforce, patient care, operational efficiency and capacity.
Royal London Hospital also highlighted the impact of using a virtual platform for its children’s cancer ward. The trust noted that children with cancer are at an increased risk of infection and when “a patient develops a fever they need to be admitted to hospital for at least 48 hours, where they can be at further risk of picking up other illnesses”. However, with the virtual ward in place, those deemed well enough after an initial assessment can return home to be cared for.
Somerset NHS Foundation Trust recently partnered with OX.DH to introduce a new virtual consultations solution. The platform successfully went live in March across all Somerset FT services to allow patients access to video consultations with Somerset FT clinicians and healthcare teams, replacing the current virtual consultation tool and enhancing the overall patient experience.
In international news, the Pan American Health Organization launched a new virtual digital literacy programme aimed at supporting the digital skills of health workers across the Americas and supporting the use of emerging technologies in health and care. Health workers have been encouraged to register for the free course, which covers topics such as digital transformation, AI, data governance, telehealth, interoperability, big data, analytics, and more.
