Pioneering Virtual Hospital programme first conceived for Watford General is NHS Parliamentary Awards regional winner

A pioneering virtual hospital programme, first introduced to help Hertfordshire’s Watford General Hospital, is a regional winner in this year’s NHS Parliamentary Awards.

The programme, spearheaded by the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board, was introduced during the pandemic to help the hospital manage rising numbers of hospital admissions. And now, owing to the hard work of dedicated teams and healthcare partners, the virtual hospital is now part of everyday operations.

Nominated by Oliver Dowden MP, the programme - implemented by the NHS trusts West Herts Teaching Hospitals (WHTH) and Central London Community Healthcare - won the regional category for Excellence in Healthcare.

The nomination states: “The pioneering virtual hospital puts the patient as the central focus of care surrounded by a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team aiming to provide a wraparound service of community support and care. Under the model of care, technology is used to provide a regular feed of health data from the patient in their own homes to a virtual hospital hub where the results are closely monitored by clinicians.

“Excellent clinical outcomes and positive patient feedback have spurred the team on to roll out this model of care for further conditions, including pneumonia, frailty, diabetes, and kidney disease.”

Working together, West Herts clinicians lead on remote monitoring for this new pathway with specialist nurses from Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) providing in person patient assessments, out in the community.

WHTH respiratory consultant Andrew Barlow, said: “Since becoming the first UK hospital to open a COVID virtual hospital on 13 March 2020, West Herts has continued to be at the forefront of virtual ward development. We used this innovative platform to drive and influence national policy on virtual wards, as well as contributing to medical literature for building clinical and public confidence in our transformation. New care pathways such as this are challenging - they rely on very close working relationships with organisations across the Integrated Care System. Our programme is a genuine collaboration with key partners including CLCH, social care and the voluntary sector. Virtual wards have brought us all closer together for the benefit of our patients.

“We were one of the first to evolve too, applying our learning to other common diseases including heart failure, COPD, Acute Respiratory Infection and frailty.

“As a team we’re thrilled to be national finalists for Health Excellence at the 2023 NHS Parliamentary Awards. Our focus has always been to improve outcomes for our patients in West Hertfordshire, but it’s nice to get this kind of recognition.”

NHS East of England manage the regional process to celebrate staff and teams as part of the overall 2023 Parliamentary Awards, after being nominated by their local MPs. Winners have been chosen in 10 categories, with each now also going forward to the national awards in London on 5 July – the NHS’s 75th birthday. The ceremony will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Westminster.