Virtual wards: no place like home? (15 March 2024)

Summary

Virtual wards, also known as Hospital at Home, treat patients in their own homes who would traditionally be cared for in hospital. Their rapid rollout by NHS England has led to lots of discussion – heralded as both a potential solution for the capacity pressures on the NHS and cautioned against due to a lack evidence about their effectiveness. 

The current 11,635 virtual ward ‘beds’ across England represent a huge investment of funding, staff and other resources during a time of unprecedented pressures on the NHS. With an initial allocation of £450m over 2 years, it’s not a surprise many have been asking – do virtual wards actually work?

That’s a very complex question to answer. The Improvement Analytics Unit, a partnership between the Health Foundation and NHS England, has been working to understand the evidence – and gaps in evidence – on virtual wards.