Guidance to support the use of virtual wards to care for more patients in their home or care home has now been updated to reflect NHS England’s new virtual wards operational framework.
Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) and NHSE’s Virtual Ward programme first developed its easy-read guidance for clinicians looking to maximise their use of virtual wards in 2023, focusing on frailty and services for those with acute respiratory infections. A section on virtual ward care for patients with heart failure was added later that year.
Following publication of NHSE’s virtual wards operational framework in August 2024, the guidance has now been refreshed to reflect current thinking, including the step-up, step-down models outlined in the framework and information on broadening virtual ward services to include all ages and meet the specific needs of children and young people (CYP).
With input from eight professional organisations, the guide pulls together summaries of existing virtual ward guidance in an easy-to-read, concise format, highlighting key advice and steps to help NHS teams get the most from virtual wards and, in doing so, improve patient choice and care.
Virtual wards, also known as Hospital at Home, are a safe and efficient alternative to bedded care. Using technology and face-to-face care, they offer patients who would otherwise be in hospital the choice of receiving the treatment they need in their own home, either preventing them from being admitted to hospital or allowing them to be discharged from hospital sooner.
There is growing evidence that when all core components of these services are delivered at scale for appropriate patients, they provide a better patient experience; more than 99% of patients on virtual wards in one study said they would recommend them.
An increase in the use of virtual wards was identified as a key ambition in NHS England’s Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services (January 2023), helping provide more capacity.
NHSE’s virtual wards operational framework seeks to provide greater consistency nationally in how virtual wards are run and to optimise occupancy so it is consistently above 80%. It also clarifies the expectations of virtual wards, by setting out:
- what virtual wards are and do, including step-up and step-down functions;
- the core components of a ‘good’ technology-enabled virtual ward;
- requirements for implementation and alignment with key partners;
- the expected outcomes of virtual wards, including ensuring capacity is aligned with avoiding hospital attendances and admissions and/or reducing length of stay in inpatient wards.
Article edited 6.5.25
