The Black Country ICB has published a prior information notice for the procurement of a remote monitoring and virtual ward platform to support the delivery of “multi-disciplinary and collaborative health services”, by opening a pre-market engagement ahead of a procurement mid-2025.
Valued at £600k with an estimated four-year timescale, the procurement is part of a collaborative effort covering both primary and secondary care, and The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
The chosen platform must be agile with the ability to respond effectively to “evolving technology and operational requirements”, while also connecting patients and clinicians through a virtual interface. The contract also notes remote monitoring as an essential part of the service, and to allow clinicians the ability to work from various locations including their vehicles, when required.
The group plan to hold a “virtual open day” which will take place via Teams between 1pm and 2pm, 28 February 2025, with the aim to “expand upon the scope of the potential requirement(s)”. Interested suppliers must confirm their attendance by 27 February 2025 via the Artemis e-sourcing portal.
It follows a similar opportunity from last year in which the NHS Black Country ICB awarded £354k for a digital inequalities support service to assist in the improvement digital enablement across the region, with the aim to give citizens “quicker and better” access to healthcare services.
Virtual wards in digital healthcare: the wider trend
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recently shared an evaluation of its virtual royal infirmary programme, demonstrating the impact of its “hospital-level care directly to patients’ homes”. Highlights included a total discharge of 752 patients from the virtual ward so far, an increase in inpatient bed availability by 6.7 and 11.5 beds per day and a positive return on investment.
NHS England published the latest figures for virtual wards from December 2024, sharing insight into capacity and occupancy as well as the health service’s current position in comparison to the long-term ambition to reach “40-50 virtual ward beds per 100,000 people”. According to the report, virtual ward ‘bed’ capacity was 12,733, with 75.4 percent occupancy.
East Cheshire NHS Trust reported a total of 1,335 patients receiving specialised at-home care since the launch of their virtual ward back in 2023. Led by advanced clinical practitioners, community nurses, therapists, and rapid response care providers, the virtual ward includes services tailored to various patient needs.
Want to learn more about the impact of virtual wards and what they mean for the future of healthcare? Make sure you register for our upcoming HTN Now webinar on ‘Virtual wards in practice: approaches and learnings / What does the future of virtual wards look like?’ where we’ll be speaking to a panel of experts to get their insights.