Paediatric virtual ward launches across Norfolk and Waveney ICB

Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) has launched a children’s virtual ward to support the delivery of hospital-level paediatric care at home.

Paediatric virtual wards aim to provide benefits for children and their families by allowing them to receive care in a familiar environment, which can help speed up recovery.

The virtual ward, powered by Feebris technology, went live in July 2024, as part of one of the largest integrated virtual ward programmes in the UK, spanning four trusts across the ICB and onboarding approximately 500 patients each month.

Advanced clinical practitioners review the technology’s digital dashboard and regularly contact families for welfare and progress updates, supporting their ongoing care plans until the child is well enough to be discharged.

Dr Yanny Delgado, consultant paediatrician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and clinical lead for the paediatric virtual ward, said that the ward is “the first service in the region designed under the principles of equitable access to specialist care for acutely unwell babies, children, and young people”.

She added that it “empowers parents or carers to take physical observations using a remote digital monitoring kit at home and, together with their remote clinicians and the educational package provided, collectively evaluate the progression of their child’s recovery”.

“The paediatric virtual ward process is supported and guided by robust pathways and guidelines that identify suitable candidates, optimising digital patient safety and aiming to provide safe care at home for children who, in other circumstances, would be admitted to the hospital,” Delgado said.

An NHS evaluation of the effectiveness and benefits of virtual wards in the south east of England, published on 16 May 2024, found that 9,000 hospital admissions were avoided in the south east of England in 2023-2024.

Dr Elina Naydenova, chief executive and cofounder of Feebris, said: “Feebris was founded on the belief that out-of-hospital care needs transformation to meet the growing and changing needs of our populations, and we are excited to take another significant step in making this vision a reality with the launch of the paediatric virtual ward in Norfolk.

“By partnering closely with the ICB and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, we are providing children and their families the comfort and security of receiving high-quality care at home, playing a crucial role in enabling faster recovery and supporting their overall wellbeing”.

Naydenova was a speaker at Digital Health AI and Data 2023, in London October 2023, at which she spoke about the ability of AI to aid predictive healthcare.

The Feebris virtual care technology is supporting more than 150 sites across the UK, working with ICSs in care homes, primary care facilities, community nursing and virtual wards.

In November 2023, the results of a study commissioned by Feebris, were published in PLOS Digital Health, demonstrating how AI-guided virtual care can help expand clinical capacity within underserved communities.