A Virtual Ward set up at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) in 2021 to support Covid-19 patients has now reached the milestone of 50,000 bed days saved since its launch.
The service was originally created to enable patients to continue their recovery from Covid-19 at home while being monitored remotely.
Eligible patients who met set criteria were admitted directly to the Virtual Ward from the Emergency Department or Acute Medical Unit, as well as from on-site wards.
They were then contacted daily and given appropriate advice and support to continue their treatment from home, including with measuring blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation levels.
The first patient was admitted in February 2021 and since then the service has gone from strength-to-strength and is now used by all adult in-patient areas of the hospital.
100% occupancy
The Virtual Ward has expanded from a ‘bed base’ of 20 to 60 patients and has been at 100% occupancy consistently for the last six months.
Claire Beard, Virtual Ward Manager, said: “We have had 6,553 patients through the ward with an average length of stay of 7.7 days.
“We have a fantastic team including nursing staff, pharmacist and pharmacy assistant, admin support, resident doctors, various Clinical Consultant Champions and we receive incredible help from our volunteer drivers.”
Millions of pounds saved
Consultant Sundari Ampi, Joint Chief of Medicine, said: “There are many things at work that I do that I am immensely proud of but working with the Virtual Ward is one of the greatest pleasures of my job. The team are dynamic, proactive and represent all that is simply amazing about the NHS that I have the privilege to work in.”
Consultant Crawford Jamieson added: “The Virtual Ward will have saved the hospital millions of pounds in bed days saved, but the biggest benefit is for the patients who get to sleep in their beds rather than a hospital bed whilst they recover and are monitored virtually.”
Find out more about the NNUH Virtual Ward here.
