Virtual wards
A programme to develop a national model for acute virtual wards has been established, with plans to implement it in 2 sites over the next year.
A virtual ward is a safe and efficient alternative to bedded care, enabled by remote monitoring technology. It's a temporary service that provides hospital-level care to people in their own homes who have acute or worsening chronic conditions.
The virtual ward offers an alternative to hospital admission or enables earlier discharge from a hospital ward for medical and surgical patients.
The project aims to:
- establish the clinical, technical, and governance infrastructure to implement the virtual ward care model nationally
- create a robust central support team or community of practice to assist users with all aspects of virtual ward platforms
- deploy a virtual ward care model across suitable HSE services, starting with a localised scaled deployment
Key benefits of virtual wards include:
For patients:
- enables patient-centred care closer to home, reducing the need for hospital admissions and promoting early discharge
- improves accessibility to health care
- reduces the burden of travel for patients, their families and carers
- reduces the requirement to attend or stay in hospital
- reduces risk of hospital-acquired infections and deconditioning
- complements modern consumer demand for digital service options
For organisation:
- supports collaborative working and shared learning across broad geographical areas
- increases the bed capacity of the service through admission avoidance and earlier discharge
- allows for the re-engagement of staff resources who are no longer able to perform hospital-based duties
- increases organisational resilience through increased bed capacity and patient management approach
- complements modern requirements for clinician hybrid working
- aids infection control and isolation needs
- enables time and cost savings in staff travel and in-hospital resource use
- contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions from health services