Looking to virtual wards for the future
In a bid to try and ease mounting pressures on the health and social care sector, the idea of virtual wards was suggested. These allow for certain patients to be discharged from hospital and cared for at home. However, a major carers shortage has made this project difficult.
Discussing this issue in more depth, alongside various others, The Kings Fund – the UK’s leading health and social care charity – hosted a webinar which included Stephanie Somerville, programme manager for virtual wards at NHS England, Denis Perkins, who is 75-years-old and was diagnosed with pneumonia and put onto a virtual ward, Nikki Powell from Capita and Ross Fullerton, leader of all things digital data and technology at Integrated Care Systems for Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, and Susanne Armstrong, advanced nurse practitioner based at University Hospitals of Leicestershire.
