Why the NHS should embrace virtual wards

The world is low on hospital beds, or so the argument goes.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Intensive Care Units had to redirect sick people to other hospitals, and free up patient beds for COVID patients. Yet bed capacity wasn’t just a pandemic problem. In mid-January this year 95.7% of beds in acute and general wards in England were occupied - the second-highest figure ever recorded.

The most obvious solution might be to add more beds - but this is expensive, and will not single-handedly solve the issues facing the NHS, like staff burn-out. Junior doctors, some paid less than Pret baristas, are striking en masse alongside nurses - half are considering dropping out of the medical profession entirely. We need a new approach to increasing healthcare capacity that works for medical practitioners, patients, and society. Are more hospital beds the answer? Or is this the healthcare equivalent of asking for ‘faster horses’ when we should be asking for cars? 

Hospitals: a modern structure

To answer this question, we need to look at the origins of our current hospital system. The majority of healthcare is now delivered in a hospital, but this is in fact a modern approach. The historian Charles E. Rosenberg wrote in his 1987 book “The Care of Strangers: The Rise of America’s Hospital System” that “only the most crowded and filthy dwellings were inferior to the hospital’s impersonal ward,”. Rewind just 50 to 100 years, and being treated in your home was the norm. 

Returning to this traditional  ‘family doctor’ model isn’t the answer, but there is a third option: virtual wards. In virtual wards, patients receive care at home, supported by technological aids like diagnostic tests, remote monitoring, and planned in-person visits. So far, Virtual Wards have largely been used to monitor patients after they’ve been discharged, allowing them to recover safely in the comfort of their homes, but this “hospital-at-home” product also allows those with chronic conditions like heart conditions or asthma to be monitored safely - reducing hospital admission through early detection. Virtual wards are not so much something new as they are a technological reimagining of the home care that came before. 

A more humane approach

Hospital-at-home care can help increase comfort and reduce anxiety in patients. For those who fear this approach is simply a cost-cutting exercise, you may be comforted to know that patients have better health outcomes in their homes too. Dr. Kendrick - the Medical Director of The Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust (which has a tech-enabled virtual ward) told the BBC:

"The patient feedback is amazing… People want to be in their own homes where they're surrounded by their own things, eat their own food, and sleep in their own beds."

While effective for many, this model will, of course, not fit every patient. Virtual wards are not designed to be a straight replacement for medical staff or hospital beds. The warmth of a nurse's hand, and the expertise of the in-person medical practice cannot be underestimated. Nor will it suit the severely ill or those unable to use technology. But for the right situation, virtual wards can offer a less stressful and more comfortable patient experience, all while freeing up hospital beds and allowing NHS staff to do what they do best.

Technological leaps mean better care for more people

The NHS is the single biggest line item in the UK’s budget. We need to bend the cost curve of healthcare while increasing productivity to serve high-quality care to the greatest number of people. Otherwise, we face a scenario in which we spend an ever-increasing portion of GDP on healthcare with diminishing satisfaction, increased staff burnout, and reduced patient outcomes. 

Technology is a proven way to bend this cost curve. We’ve seen this first hand at Giant, in the results of our portfolio company Doccla, who we funded at seed stage and is now one of the leading virtual ward companies. Doccla estimate that for every £1 spent on the service, the NHS saves £3, and has already achieved a 29% reduction in Emergency Admissions and a 20% reduction in A&E attendance for the health trusts it works with. It also has its own full clinical team of specialists who support the NHS with clinical monitoring - alleviating pressures on frustrated and overworked NHS staff.  Already more than 100,000 patients have been treated in NHS virtual wards - 16,000 in January alone. It is no wonder that the Government have allocated £400 million to treat more people in "hospitals at home".

So, do we need more hospital beds right now? With a growing population, it is uncertain. But what is certain is that caring for people at home can reduce admissions and expedite early discharge - freeing up more beds for those who need them most, all without sacrificing patient care. As we commemorate the third year anniversary of the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, we must integrate the lessons learnt. The pandemic brought unprecedented devastation, loss, and pain. It also - expedited by tragic necessity - led to the introduction of life-saving new technologies across primary care and hospital operations. With the right approach, virtual wards can aid and augment medical professionals, unlock hospital capacity, and ensure patients are well-cared for in the comfort of their homes. This is a future worth building.

Cameron McLain is the co-founder of Giant

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