According to recent NHS stats, West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals has risen from 102nd place in trust rankings for A&E waiting times to seventh place in two years, citing its “virtual hospital” approach as helping to free up “thousands of beds”.
The latest figures indicate that 82.6 percent of over 17,000 patients arriving in A&E were seen within the four-hour target time. In June 2022, 60.5 percent were seen within four hours, despite the trust citing “higher demand for the service than ever before”.
Chief executive Matthew Coats commented that over the last 18 months the trust’s focus has been on “improving the flow of patients throughout the hospital rather than simply treating one symptom of a much bigger problem.” He said that approaching the situation “in a truly holistic way” has helped free up beds and speed up discharge, with technology used to monitor people from their own homes. “That means we are now treating more patients arriving in A&E more quickly, more of the time.”
Virtual wards: the wider trend
Last month, we highlighted the impact of the virtual ward programme at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, with estimates that the service has supported the reduction of the average length of stay in hospital for patients by five days.
In May, we covered plans from NHS England to increase virtual ward use, with correspondence sent to every local hospital and health system setting out actions hoped to increase urgent and emergency care performance, including plans for a new virtual wards operational framework and funding incentives to support front door services.
Stepping back to April, we reported on the news that North East London NHS Foundation Trust deployed the e-discharge module of the Portasana patient communication platform, as part of efforts to support virtual wards, handle patient discharge and support patient flow.
HTN is hosting a virtual panel discussion on 8 August exploring learnings from virtual wards and aspirations for the future – sign up to our form here for your free NHS ticket.
Also from the region
We previously examined Hertfordshire and West Essex ICS’s digital strategy, including plans to make a measurable difference to the collective health and care provision across the region through common approaches to digital technology; improve the commonality of digital solutions and their interoperability; drive digital maturity; and secure the best value for the ICS through digital investments.
And we interviewed the ICS’s director of digital transformation Adam Lavington on the key digital lessons he has learned throughout his career, the ICB’s digital priorities, his hopes for the future, and more.
