NHS England commissions impact evaluation of virtual wards

NHS England has commissioned an evaluation to measure the impact of its national virtual wards initiative. 

There are more than 12,000 virtual ‘beds’ operating nationwide and in May 2024, NHSE announced proposals to increase access to virtual wards in a bid to cut avoidable hospital admissions and reduce emergency department waiting times.

The two-year evaluation project, which lanched in February 2025, will be carried out by Healthcare Integration Partners (HIP), Kaleidoscope, and City St George’s, University of London.

Rehan Qureshi, associate director at HIP, said: “The national virtual ward evaluation programme is a key priority for NHSE, enabling patients to receive hospital level of care at home.

“As the adoption of virtual wards continues to grow, so is the evidence base for their impact. However, the roll-out of the national virtual ward programme has not yet been evaluated at scale.

“HIP will contribute our clinical, operational, and functional expertise of virtual wards, guiding the evaluation process to assess the quantitative impact of virtual wards on patient outcomes and system efficiency.”

The impact evaluation is intended to provide a qualitative research framework to help with the assessment of strategic development, design, and implementation of virtual wards.

It will include econometric modelling to assess patient and hospital-level outcomes, such as readmission rates and length of stay.

A simulation model will then estimate how changes at patient and hospital levels can combine to affect system-wide measures, such as overall bed availability and patient flow throughout the healthcare system.

A cost-effectiveness analysis will also estimate expenditures associated with virtual wards, per unit of improvement in key outcomes, to take into account costs to the healthcare system and broader social care networks.

Dr Navid Izady, an academic from City St George’s, said: “Lord Darzi’s independent report into the state of the NHS concluded that it must ‘reform or die’, which has put evaluations of key initiatives at the top of the agenda.

“Virtual wards ease the burden on nurses and also free up hospital bed space for those most in need.

“They are a necessity to ensure those requiring the most critical care can receive it without having to wait various lengths of time for availability.

“However, their success is dependent on applying a highly efficient operation model, selecting the right set of patients, and having the right technology in place.

“Our mission is to provide the necessary research expertise to help evaluate the progress of this initiative as a less resource-intensive method of care.”

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.

A spokesperson for NHSE said: “The evidence base for virtual wards has grown rapidly over recent years, with evaluations demonstrating positive patient experience and outcomes.

“This evaluation will be the first of its kind and will consider the impact of virtual wards on patient experience and outcomes and the wider system, as well as what characteristics of virtual wards are most effective.”