More patients using 'virtual wards' to receive care from Wigan's hospitals

They were launched during the coronavirus pandemic so people could stay at home but be monitored by medics, rather than having to be admitted to hospital.

And with the under-pressure NHS gearing up for a busy winter, more patients are set to be treated in virtual wards, helping health chiefs to manage illnesses such as Covid-19 and pneumonia and free up hospital beds.

In February 2022, the virtual ward team at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust supported 20 people with acute respiratory infections (ARI).

This has since risen to 137 patients being treated by the ARI virtual ward team, saving 1,256 acute bed days between February and September 2022.

In addition, the virtual heart failure pathway has provided 49 patients with early supported acute heart failure care in the home, saving 376 acute inpatient bed days.