Referral points to virtual wards are similar to traditional models of care.
Supporting the health and care system to implement virtual wards
Virtual wards (also known as hospital at home) provide hospital level care at home.
People on a virtual ward are cared for by a multidisciplinary team who can provide a range of tests and treatments and may use simple technology to monitor the person’s recovery.
Developing your clinical case to support virtual wards
The NICE team has mapped existing NICE guidance recommendations with the stages of the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) and NHS England Virtual Ward Programme framework. These guidelines support the clinical case for virtual wards.
We also produce quality standards for health, public health, and social care, which can also provide useful information for virtual wards, though they are not included in this resource.
In a virtual ward setting, you make assessments at home to support clinical decision-making.
In virtual wards, patients remain at home to receive hospital-level care.
In virtual wards, people can receive virtual and technology-assisted treatment, assessment, and monitoring. Care should be of a similar level of quality to that of traditional models of care.
Our guidance helps you hand over care and ensure people are safely transitioned out of the virtual ward environment.
Virtual wards providing hospital-level care for people at home
In this video, we join the hospital at home team at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust as they support patients in their homes, for example, reviewing them, and administering medicine by air using a nebuliser. We find out more about how this approach can benefit staff, the people they care for, and their families.
Our latest virtual wards guidance and advice
We've started by looking at the acute respiratory infection (ARI) pathway, aiming to help reduce pressure on the NHS over winter.
We have published a suite of guidance and resources to help manage ARI patients safely in their homes.
Clinical Guideline: Acute Respiratory Infection in over 16s: Initial assessment and management
More people could be treated out of hospital in the NHS’s new respiratory hubs and virtual wards following our guidance on the initial assessment and management of suspected acute respiratory infections.
Quality Standard: Acute respiratory infection in over 16s: initial assessment and management
The new quality standard contains a set of statements to help improve the quality of initial assessment and management for ARI, including using virtual wards.
Virtual ward platform technologies for acute respiratory infections
An independent NICE committee has recommended the use of technology platforms used in virtual wards. Virtual ward platform technologies comprise 3 key parts: a patient-facing app or website, associated medical devices and a digital platform for healthcare professionals.
This plan outlines the evidence gaps for the technology in ARI pathways and what real-world data needs to be collected for evaluations to address those gaps. It is not a study protocol.
Our team analysed evidence on virtual wards and hospital-at-home models, finding them generally cost-saving due to reduced hospital bed days and lower per diem costs. Out of 1,000 studies, 15 met the criteria, with 13 showing cost savings and 2 indicating higher costs compared to hospital care. However, most studies had methodological limitations, suggesting the need for further research.
More on virtual wards
Setting up a cohesive virtual wards service in Greater Manchester
Dr Bushra Alam is a consultant working in Greater Manchester and the clinical lead for virtual wards across the ICS. Here she describes her experience.
NICE’s Angela Osei sets out to understand some of the challenges, benefits and considerations of setting up and running a virtual ward, from the perspective of teams on the frontline.
