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Virtual Wards - Deliver a Virtual Ward Future

Virtual wards are key to reducing pressures on the NHS and technology partners are integral to making them work. 

Here’s how we can collaborate with you to achieve the NHS virtual ward targets and help you to deliver safe, high-quality care, at home.

Our Unique Eco-System Can Help Deliver a Virtual Wards Future

At Access, we're the only supplier that can partner with you to join up your care across primary and secondary healthcare, social care and the care sector, the key to supporting the whole virtual ward.

Our breadth of solutions provide visibility for your staff, so they have the information they need to provide safe, acute-level care.

Whether you’re stepping down care to make beds available in hospital or providing anticipatory care to avoid admission, at home or in residential care, our solutions can help you roster, provision and monitor care, communicate with patients, and provide a clear, real-time view of your patients’ health status and their progress towards recovery.

With data flowing to existing systems from across the care continuum and easy-to-navigate dashboards, you’re armed with the confidence and flexibility to treat patients in a virtual ward safely.

What are virtual wards?

With such limited capacity already, no one should stay in hospital for longer than they need to let alone be admitted when practical alternatives are available. Thanks to the expansion of virtual wards, healthcare professionals can now deliver frictionless, at-home care to patients, anytime. 

Supported by state-of-the-art monitoring and communication tools, clinicians can provide safe and effective community care. This means that patients can be cared for in a comfortable, familiar setting, where they are likely to be happier and recover more quickly.

How virtual wards help offer better healthcare

£bn

Potential saving every year

%

of patients cared for at home felt more confident about being able to manage their condition

%

reduction in re-admission rate

%

reduction in the average length of hospital stay

An Integrated Care Approach to Virtual Wards 

Integration and collaboration between systems, people and places are key drivers in making virtual wards work effectively. Our interoperable solutions allow for seamless workflows across acute, community, voluntary, and social care to aid home-based support, all of which are crucial to delivering quality, joined-up care to virtual wards patients.

Why Virtual Wards? 

Common core components to enable a consistent user experience 

Flexibility to adapt to various clinical pathways 

Re-use of existing capabilities to enable clinician adoption and efficiency

Integration of health and social care systems 

Common standards, integrations and data model 

Benefits of Virtual Wards for:

Virtual Wards FAQs

What are virtual wards?

Virtual wards enable patients to recover within the familiarity of their homes instead of a traditional hospital setting. Using remote monitoring systems and data-powered technologies, patients can receive hospital-level, short-term care without needing a healthcare professional physically present.  

How do virtual wards work?

Virtual wards rely on wearables and environmental tracking devices to remotely manage an individual's health. These devices continuously monitor a person's vital signs, behaviour, and environment, feeding this data back to healthcare providers in real time and enabling them to manage the patient's care requirements.

If the technology detects that the patient is at danger of falling, having a seizure, or experiencing anything else that would require medical attention, it alerts the clinician to check in or intervene as necessary.

Who are virtual wards suitable for?

Virtual wards are suitable for people who suffer from certain medical conditions such as frailty, heart failure and acute respiratory infections. They are primarily designed for those who require ongoing monitoring and short-term care but who do not necessarily need to be hospitalised.

What are the benefits of virtual wards?

Virtual wards offer a wealth of advantages for patients, their families and healthcare providers. Some of the key benefits include improved patient outcomes, reduced hospital admissions and readmissions, reduced burden and workload on healthcare staff, increased patient satisfaction and quality of life, and better use of healthcare resources, to name a few.

How can the impact of virtual wards be measured?

The impact of virtual wards can be assessed using various metrics, including but not limited to:

  • Number of reductions in hospital admissions and readmissions
  • Length of stay in hospitals
  • Patient satisfaction surveys
  • Health outcomes such as mortality rates, complication rates, and disease management indicators
  • Healthcare resource utilisation, including cost savings
  • Patient-reported outcomes and quality of life assessments

Book a call with our Virtual Ward specialist