Virtual Ward Panel

Lessons from our virtual ward launch:

What we wish we knew

Dr. Irene Valero-Sánchez

When the second wave of the pandemic hit, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust turned to virtual wards to help facilitate earlier discharge for COVID-19 patients in a bid to ease capacity concerns.

Now, almost 18 months and an NHSX case study later, we’ll be joined by the NHS team in charge of the rollout, to hear about their successes, challenges and all the things they wish they knew.

Simply register using the form below, and we’ll send you a Teams invite to join.

Clinical Lead for the Integrated Respiratory Service, University Hospital of Leicester NHS Trust

Dr. Noel O'Kelly

Clinical Director, Spirit Health

Rehabilitation Technical Instructor, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

Head of Innovation Exchange, East Midlands Academic Health Science Network

Daisy Savage

Hosted by: Suzanne Horobin

Who will be on the panel?

By filling out this form, you are agreeing that we can email you an invitation to our panel, plus follow-up materials from the session.

Professor Sudip Ghosh

Consultant Physician & Deputy Medical Director, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

Why should I attend?

A detailed look at an NHSX featured case study

Hear real experiences and insights from an NHS frontline team

An open Q&A for you to ask our panelists anything about virtual wards

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) has been an advocate for the use of more digital approaches to providing patient services for some time, but the onset of the pandemic was a catalyst for accelerated and collaborative change.

CliniTouch Vie was first used in the fight against COVID-19 in April 2020, when LPT deployed the technology for use by the community respiratory and heart failure teams. The technology enabled them to intensively monitor for signs of deterioration without needing to see the patient face-to-face, only escalating their care when truly necessary.

In late 2020 as hospital admissions began to rise, LPT and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) turned to Spirit and CliniTouch Vie once more, to introduce the COVID-19 virtual ward service. Using a bespoke, clinically-validated digital pathway, the virtual ward enabled the early-supported discharge of symptomatic patients into the community to continue their recovery at home.

Since launching 18 months ago, the project has been featured as an NHSX Innovation Collaborative case study, focusing on the development of virtual wards to manage long term conditions across the Midlands. A study, conducted with the first 65 patients into the virtual ward, has also been peer-reviewed and published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management, demonstrating a 40.3% reduction in average length of stay and cost savings of over £1,047 per patient.

The partnership between Spirit, LPT and UHL has also gone on to win a number of awards, including ‘Best COVID-19 Remote Monitoring Solution’ and ‘Advances in Digital Healthcare’, as well as being a finalist in the 2022 HSJ Partnership Awards.

Crucially, this is just the beginning for the use of virtual wards across Leicestershire. In line with the latest NHS planning guidance and the national ambition to accelerate the rollout of virtual care, LPT, UHL and Spirit continue to look at new digital pathways. With frailty, diabetes, COPD and heart failure virtual wards all in the pipeline, this partnership showcases how collaboration between NHS teams and suppliers can really deliver results.

About the project

Interactive and collaborative format