Humber and North Yorkshire to expand virtual wards service

Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership has announced plans to expand its virtual ward service with assistance from remote patient monitoring firm Inhealthcare.

The collaboration of health and care organisations serves a population of 1.7 million people across the region.

There is currently the capacity for more than 220 virtual ward beds across Humber and North Yorkshire, with plans to roll out an additional 244 virtual beds, including some paediatric beds, by March 2025.

Expanding the number of virtual beds will allow more patients with frailty, respiratory and heart problems, and other related conditions to be cared for and monitored at home.

Dr Nigel Wells, executive director for clinical and professional care at NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), said: “There are not many patients I speak to who want to be admitted to hospital – given a choice, they would much rather remain at home, in familiar surroundings with family and friends close by.

“The rollout of technology in our virtual wards in Humber and North Yorkshire allows more patients who are unwell to remain in their own homes, but connected through technology to the same level of medical monitoring and clinical expertise they would get if they were on a physical hospital ward.”

Eligible patients who choose to use the virtual ward service are given medical devices such as blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters and thermometers and shown how to take readings.

Patients can share their readings with care teams via communication channels including mobile app, text message or landline telephone, and if any of the readings fall out of range, care teams can intervene to give advice and support as needed.

Max Jones, chief digital and information officer at NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB, said that collaborating with Inhealthcare would “help reduce pressure on hospital beds and improve patient outcomes”.

“We know that in many cases, a patient will recover better in familiar surroundings and closer to family and friends.

“The innovation and technology used to provide our virtual wards means patients can still be monitored remotely while they recuperate, enabling us to continue to detect abnormalities and address them in the appropriate way,” Jones added.

NHS providers which are planned to roll out virtual beds under the initiative include Care Plus Group, City Health Care Partnership, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Humber Teaching NHS FT, Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS FT, and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS FT.

Natalie Duffield, sales and marketing director at Inhealthcare, said: “We are excited to partner with the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership to help realise its vision of transforming healthcare delivery through digital technology and innovation.”

Meanwhile, Inhealthcare announced in December 2023 that it had won a contract to deploy virtual wards across NHS West Yorkshire ICB in Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield.

In May 2024, NHS England announced proposals to increase access to virtual wards in a bid to cut avoidable hospital admissions and reduce emergency department waiting times.