Local people tell us what they think of virtual hospital treatment at home
The NHS is starting to offer people the option to stay at home for their care in situations that they might have gone to hospital or where they can leave hospital sooner because their health is stable but they need some continued monitoring of their care. They call this 'virtual wards'.
We wanted to make sure that the views and needs of patients and carers had been considered in how these services are offered to people and how they run. We worked with the Health Innovation Network to make sure that the evaluation of the Virtual Ward arrangements includes the voices of patients and carers.
What we did
Healthwatch Wandsworth, Croydon and southwest London Healthwatch staff worked together to hear from patients and local residents by asking them a set of questions about what they think was good about virtual wards or concerns they might have.
We had a very short timeline and spoke to 29 people during November 2023.
Key findings and recommendations
Our full report outlines what people thought about virtual wards and things that will be important for the service to consider when offering people the opportunity to have a virtual ward. Based on the feedback people gave us, we have made recommendations about the following.
- Reconsider alternatives to the name 'Virtual Wards'.
- Things that should be considered before someone has a Virtual Ward service such as isolation and independence, suitability of the home environment, mental capacity, financial wellbeing.
- Involving carers in discussions and decisions about Virtual Wards and considering where responsibility is shared with other friends and family or paid carers.
- Information and communication that would be useful for people making decisions about having a Virtual Ward (including training on using equipment)
- Safeguarding checks and consideration of periods when the patient is alone.
Downloads
Read the full report
Read about what people had to say about Virtual Wards in our full report.
This report will be submitted to southwest London Integrated Care Board who oversee how the NHS is working in southwest London, including Wandsworth. This will be part of an evaluation about what is working well and less well using Virtual Ward services. Therefore we hope to hear soon how our recommendations will inform how the service works.
