Kingston Hospital has announced it aims to increase the number of NHS virtual ward patients to 200 a month, in line with the NHS England target.
NHS virtual wards allow patients to access hospital care, such as IV Drips and oxygen, at home.
Patients will receive medical care through a team of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals at home.
They are then reviewed daily through video consultations or home visits. Virtual wards aim to reduce pressure on the NHS by freeing up spaces in physical wards.
There are ‘step-up wards’, where a patient is offered the choice between a hospital or virtual ward if their condition deteriorates, and ‘step-down wards’, where a patient is transferred to a virtual ward from an inpatient ward.
At a Kingston Council meeting between representatives of Kingston Hospital and the council, Councillor Lorraine Dunston asked: “how are patients feeling when they are approached and asked if they would like to be on a virtual ward?”
Tracey Moore, Chief Operating Officer for Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust, said the feedback for its virtual wards has been positive and that patients have “really loved the benefit of being able to go home early”.
She added: “When people are approached though, about it, it is not something that comes out of the blue. If someone’s thought to be a potential for onboarding to a virtual ward, then that conversation will have been had earlier in their in-patient stay.”
In 2024, the Kingston and Richmond Foundation Trust virtual wards received 558 patients with, just 8% of who were readmitted to hospital within a month after they were discharged.
From April 2022 to April 2023, NHS North West London’s Virtual Hospital saw 4,311 patients via a virtual ward.
NWL Virtual Hospital has claimed that this saved around around 8,622 bed days and approximately £3.4 Million in system saving.
Advantages like these have encouraged the Kingston Hospital to develop and broaden its virtual wards.
They plan on doing this by providing technology training to patients to improve access, improving GP engagement by encouraging GPs to refer patients and expanding services to include more treatable conditions, such as COPD and heart failure.
