The potential benefit of treating patients with serious conditions from the comfort of their home is far greater than previously thought – and could save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds whilst delivering better treatment and higher patient satisfaction, a published study has found.


The most in-depth evaluation of the ‘Hospital at Home’ approach to date has revealed that patients who were cared for via West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals Trust’s Virtual Hospital, delivered in partnership with Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH), overwhelmingly preferred it to being cared for in hospital.


The peer-reviewed paper, which analysed 3,000 patients, is published on 8 April by Frontiers in Digital Health.


It cut hospital admissions by almost three days on average, and looking after patients remotely was 80% cheaper than caring for a patient in hospital.  
Crucially, the study is able to demonstrate the economic case for investment in the expansion of Virtual Hospital models, with the potential to free up tens of thousands of beds every day and deliver significant benefits.


Key findings from the evaluation, which was based on patients admitted to the HAH service between April 2023 and April 2024, include:

 

  • Virtual Hospital Early Supported Discharge patients’ admissions are 2.8 days shorter than comparable controls, on average.
  • Virtual Hospital Care costs around £118.49 per bed day, considerably less than inpatient care of £569.
  • Based on reduced length of stay, savings amounted to £486 per Early Supported Discharge patient, and £3,652 per Admission Avoidance patient.
  • Headline savings were £1.33m over 12 months (net).
  • 95.8% of patients preferred VH care
  • 98.3% of patients feel safe under VH care.


West Hertfordshire and Central London Community Health (CLCH) established the UK's first virtual hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing a safe alternative to inpatient care for over 5,000 patients and saving countless bed days. 


Since then, the programme has evolved to offer heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease acute respiratory infection and general medicine virtual wards.


It works by caring for patients from the comfort of their own homes using monitoring technology and specialist support for doctors. 


Commenting on the findings, Medicine Divisional Director, Niall Keenan, said: “This evaluation underlines the enormous value, impact and benefit of the Hospital at Home approach has for patients, health providers and the taxpayer. 


“Not only does it cut admission times and save millions of pounds which can be spent on supporting other vital services, but most importantly it is also a huge hit with patients. They prefer it to hospitals and feel safe and well looked after being cared for form home. 


“The in-depth analysis demonstrates the benefits of local health and care organisations working together to improve outcomes for patients.”