More than 100,000 patients, including children, have been treated in so-called virtual wards over the past year, NHS England officials have said. Leading medics said that the use of the system to monitor patients at home has been a “real game changer”.
Officials say virtual wards can help patients avoid unnecessary hospital trips altogether, or enable them to be sent home from hospital sooner. Using various equipment and technology, clinicians can monitor vital signs such as a patients’ heart rate, oxygen levels and temperature remotely.
A virtual “ward round” can involve in-person visits or video consultations with clinicians from various specialities, who can provide a range of tests and treatments – including blood tests, prescribing medication or administering fluids through an intravenous drip. The initiative is a key part of NHS plans to recover services after the pandemic – and the NHS eventually aims to have 50,000 people treated on virtual wards every month.
