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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Linda Geddes Science correspondent

‘One part of the solution’: how virtual NHS wards are now a reality

Harold Chugg
Harold Chugg, pictured in North Devon hospital, Barnstaple, wearing a Bluetooth-enabled blood pressure cuff to monitor his health. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer

Harold Chugg spent much of early 2023 in a hospital bed because of worsening heart failure. During his most recent admission in June, the 75-year-old received several blood transfusions, which led to fluid accumulating in his lungs and tissues.

Ordinarily, he would have remained in hospital for further days or weeks while the medical team got his fluid retention under control. But Harold was offered an alternative: admission to a virtual ward where he would be closely monitored in the comfort of his own home.

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