Virtual hospital wards tried and tested in Wigan are rolled out across the country

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) launched its virtual wards in January last year, so patients could receive the care they needed at home, via a digital monitoring kit, rather than being admitted to a real hospital ward.

It was the next step from its “hospital at home” initiative set up during the pandemic, when people with coronavirus were monitored at home using pulse oximetry.

The scheme has been a real success, caring for 1,324 patients since it was launched and saving more than 4,920 hospital bed days.

Hospital bosses hope to expand the current 45-bed virtual ward to 150 over the coming year, so more patients can be treated in the comfort of their own homes.

And NHS organisations across the country are following in Wigan’s footsteps, as more virtual wards are being opened to prevent people being admitted to hospital.

Across England, the number of patients that can be cared for in this way has increased by 7,000 – a 50 per cent rise since last summer – and another 3,000 virtual beds will be created before next winter.

It is hoped that up to 50,000 people per month will eventually be supported on virtual wards – up from around 10,000 in December.

Dr Sanjay Arya, medical director and consultant cardiologist at WWL, is the executive lead for virtual wards in Wigan and Bolton.

He said: “I am very proud of all the staff who work in the virtual ward team. They are working incredibly hard to get patients onto the virtual ward, away from the risks of hospital beds, and managing them safely in the community.

"We have saved thousands of hospital beds as a result of virtual wards. It’s a credit to all the staff working on the virtual ward team – the nurses, the doctors and the administrative colleagues.”

Dr Arya said he had been working with trusts in Greater Manchester and in other parts of the country, answering questions and sharing best practice as they set up their own virtual wards.

“People have come and interviewed us and taken the good things from our virtual ward and implemented them across Greater Manchester and outside Greater Manchester,” he said.

WWL’s wards allow patients to be safely and effectively monitored at home for respiratory conditions, heart failure, Covid-19, cholecystitis, diverticulitis and frailty.

There are step-up programmes which support patients rather than admitting them to hospital, along with step-down programmes promoting earlier, safe discharge from hospital.

The most recent survey in December revealed that 100 per cent of patients were likely to recommend virtual ward care as an alternative to being in hospital.

A total of 96 per cent of patients found the equipment easy to use, while the remaining four per cent found it easier to use after a home visit by staff to further demonstrate the equipment.

Without the virtual ward, 571 of the patients would have been admitted to acute bed at WWL, adding to the pressure already faced at the busy hospitals.