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Virtual Care, Virtual Wards and Hospital@Home: Key Topics for Consideration

Updated: Apr 29, 2024



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25.04.2024



Following a productive and engaging session, hosted at NHS England’s head-offices yesterday, between private and public stake- holders, on the topic of Virtual Care and Virtual Wards, I thought it would be helpful to share some key take-aways for our partners and collaborators in the healthcare ecosystem.



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In a room filled with such a breadth of clinical, technical, academic expertise across public and private sector it was very apparent that, whilst there are challenges to overcome, powerful wheels are in motion to move to a more preventative, community or home-based hospital care model.



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As we navigate the changing tides of healthcare, the resounding takeaway is this: collaboration, innovation, and empowerment of patients and care providers are the cornerstones of an evolving healthcare system that not only addresses immediate needs but anticipates and prevents future issues.





Collaboration: The Synergy of Public & Private Stakeholders


The partnership between industry, academia and clinical leadership is pivotal; equally critical is the sharing of knowledge between care providers in relation successful use cases and lessons learned to support cost-optimisation and standardisation of new models of care delivery. When technology and healthcare expertise align, the potential outcome is a seamless, efficient delivery of care that can significantly improve patient outcomes and streamline processes.



The Endless Potential of Hospital@Home Care Models


Traditionally viewed as a solution for palliative care or early discharge, Hospital@Home models are now innovating in the NHS to assess and diagnose acute patients in their homes. These empowered teams, equipped with the right tools, make critical decisions about patient admissions, offering a superior alternative to the arduous waiting and potential deterioration in emergency departments. Decisions can now be made in the home to admit a patient onto a physical or virtual hospital facility for treatment. It was noted that perhaps the ideal patient for Hospital@Home service might be a citizen with quite complex health and social care needs, where the potential positive impact on quality of life can be most profound.



Interoperability and Integration: Unlocking Data for Holistic Care


Siloed, disparate data is proving an ongoing and growing challenge for pressured clinical teams in the NHS to make informed holistic decisions or impart to other care providers how patients are progressing. The ability to transfer patient data securely and freely is crucial for informed decision-making. Clinicians and providers seek integrated systems where data, whether from patient-completed assessments, wearables or other sources, enters digitally and centrally—reducing the burden on clinical teams and aiding in comprehensive care.



Automation As A Necessity Over Manual Processes


The frustration with manual processes is palpable among the healthcare teams industry are meeting with. Automating data sharing and reducing manual entry is not just a convenience; it's a necessity for efficiency and accuracy in patient care. For example, at Wellola, our Portasana® , product has been deployed as part of the North East London Foundation Trust’s Virtual ward, fully integrated with the Access Group’s Rio Electronic Patient Record solution; the goal being to support seamless e-discharge onto a virtual ward from an Acute facility.



Standardisation: Harnessing Data Effectively


The call for standardisation across virtual ward or Hospital@Home patient criteria,

patient acuity, standardised professional training to deliver virtual care (particularly for the next generation of care professionals), and obvious standardisation of API’s and data structures is loud and clear. Raw data alone is insufficient; it must be accurate, high-calibre data, curated and accessible on well designed platforms for those delivering care. From Wellola’s perspective, we fully align with NHSE’s open API policy and process data, for our NHS customers, in FHIR-standards as a given; we also integrate with many core clinical systems that process and share data in other formats.


Process Mapping Before Tech Deployment


Before any existing or new technology is rolled out at scale, understanding and mapping out existing processes around care pathways is essential. By looking at clinical, integrated care team workflows, relationships, and handovers, we can offer a more integrated care package; support is required to facilitate changes in work practices and empowerment of the NHS workforce, considering the pillar of change behaviour as equal, if not paramount, to  the technology deployed.



Preventative Population Health: The Digital Frontier


One question posed by the group was ‘where does virtual care start and end’ ? Virtual care, often seen as a solution to immediate health concerns, has the potential to offer personalised, preventative care. By using digital tools, healthcare can shift towards shared-responsibility care models, educating and empowering patients to manage their own health more effectively. Thereafter the possibility of a care continuum offering a hybrid of in-person and home-based care options is the future of healthcare we are moving toward. Of note, Portasana®, Wellola’s hard-ware light, low-code care and communications platform offers a full suite of pre-built care journeys for high volume cohorts of service users (e.g. smoking cessation programmes, management of diabetes etc.) 



User-Friendliness: The NHS's Essential Criterion


The NHS has placed a strong emphasis on the user-friendliness of the digital tools it subscribes to. From the NHS app to online consultations, ease of use remains paramount to encourage widespread adoption among both patients and healthcare providers. A non-negotiable was that tools deployed into both patient and clinical teams hand needed to be safe and seamless to use, regardless of the level of technical or digital literacy of the end-user.



Closing Thoughts: A Healthcare Revolution


Our session concluded with a compelling thought: adversity breeds innovation. We may well be on the brink of transforming the healthcare landscape to such an extent that traditional hospitals could become obsolete. Food for thought!





About Wellola


Wellola, proudly established in Dublin in 2016, set up its UK base in 2019 at the Nexus Leeds, working alongside the brightest minds from business, technology and academia. Boasting a highly experienced, clinically-led senior management team of Lyndsey Watson (COO), Dr Imran Khan (CSO) and Jay Ross (CTO), Wellola believes in preventative, community-based care models, underpinned by their interoperable and digital Care Journeys Platform, Portasana®. Integrated with core NHS systems and electronic patient records, staff at a given healthcare organisation can curate an unlimited amount of evidence-based digital care pathways for their patients across all services, supporting the waiting well, reducing the need for follow-up appointments and supporting patients to self-manage care. For Further Information About Wellola:




 
 
 

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