Virtual Hospital programme is NHS Parliamentary Awards regional winner
Posted: 21 June 2023
A virtual hospital programme run collaboratively by the Herts and West Essex ICB is a regional winner in this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards.
The virtual hospital programme, implemented in partnership by two NHS trusts - West Herts Teaching Hospitals and Central London Community Healthcare - was introduced during the global pandemic to help Watford General hospital manage rising numbers of hospital admissions during unprecedented times for all NHS organisations. Owing to the hard work and collaboration of dedicated teams and local healthcare partners, the virtual hospital is now part of everyday operations.
Nominated by Oliver Dowden MP, the programme won the regional category for Excellence in Healthcare. The nomination states:
“The pioneering virtual hospital (VH) puts the patient as the central focus of care surrounded by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team aiming to provide a wraparound service of community support and care. Under the model of care, technology is used to provide a regular feed of health data from the patient in their own homes to a virtual hospital hub where the results are closely monitored by clinicians.
“Excellent clinical outcomes and positive patient feedback have spurred the team on to roll out this model of care for further conditions, including pneumonia, frailty, diabetes, and kidney disease.”
Working together, West Herts clinicians lead on remote monitoring for this new pathway with specialist nurses from Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) providing in person patient assessments, out in the community.
WHTH respiratory consultant Andrew Barlow, said: “Since becoming the first UK hospital to open a COVID virtual hospital on 13 March 2020, West Herts has continued to be at the forefront of virtual ward development. We used this innovative platform to drive and influence national policy on virtual wards, as well as contributing to medical literature for building clinical and public confidence in our transformation. New care pathways such as this are challenging - they rely on very close working relationships with organisations across the Integrated Care System (ICS). Our programme is a genuine collaboration with key partners including CLCH, social care and the voluntary sector. Virtual wards have brought us all closer together for the benefit of our patients.
“We were one of the first to evolve too, applying our learning to other common diseases including heart failure, COPD, Acute Respiratory Infection and frailty.
"Our senior leadership team has spoken at a number of regional, national and international conferences, taken on leadership positions in the East of England, been part of national NHSE Clinical Reference Groups and contributed to Downing Street round table discussions on virtual care. We continue to host visits from local MPs, senior NHSE executives including Chief Operating Officer at the time, Sir David Sloman, as well as delegates from Singapore and South Korea governments. Everyone wants to know how we’ve delivered our virtual ward programme!
“As a team we’re thrilled to be national finalists for Health Excellence at the 2023 NHS Parliamentary Awards. Our focus has always been to improve outcomes for our patients in West Hertfordshire, but it’s nice to get this kind of recognition.”
Dr Kevin Barrett, Divisional Medical Director for Hertfordshire at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “It is fantastic that this innovative partnership initiative has been recognised in the NHS Parliamentary Awards. The virtual hospital has helped reduce the length of hospital stay for thousands of patients, meaning they can get home to their families, friends and familiar surroundings more quickly or avoid hospital admission altogether. The virtual hospital truly demonstrates the benefits of NHS organisations working together to improve care for patients.”
NHS East of England manage the regional process to celebrate staff and teams as part of the overall 2023 Parliamentary Awards, after being nominated by their local MPs. Winners have been chosen in 10 categories, with each now also going forward to the national awards in London on 5 July – the NHS’s 75th birthday. The ceremony will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Westminster.
Ends
- For media enquiries, please contact the communications team on: 01923 436280 or email: westherts.communications@nhs.net. For out of hours media enquiries please call the Watford General Hospital switchboard on 01923 244366 and ask for the on call communications manager.
- West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves people from across Hertfordshire, north London and further afield. It operates from three hospitals; Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead. The trust has a catchment area of over 500,000 people and is one of the largest employers locally, with around 5,000 staff and volunteers.
- For more information about our hospitals, visit www.westhertshospitals.nhs.uk. You can also join our followers on Twitter (twitter.com/westhertsNHS) and find us on Facebook (facebook.com/westhertsNHS).
