With over a decade of experience in the technology sector, Bytes Digital have been helping virtual ward businesses rollout their life-saving technology to NHS trsuts and practices across the UK.
What are virtual wards?
Virtual wards, otherwise known as ‘hospital at home’ has been set up through the NHS to allow patients to still receive hospital-level care but from the comfort of their own homes. This programme was launched back in April 2022 with the long-term aim to provide 40 to 50 ‘virtual beds’ per 100,000 people in England. Having this programme in the last couple of years has massively helped the healthcare sector in England and will continue to help and support over the years to come.
How do virtual wards work?
The process of virtual wards is that when patients attend hospital, if they require further observations monitoring then they may be sent home with a virtual ward kit. These kits contain a variety of monitoring wearables, such as blood pressure cuffs, which are used to keep track of the patients’ health at home following on from their recent hospital visit. The patient will receive daily monitoring from a clinician at the hospital, this can either be through home visits or through video calls. All kits require some sort of mobile device that are the main hub of the kits, all data and information gathered from the monitoring devices will be transferred to this ‘hub’ which can be accessed by the medical team observing the patient.
What is Bytes’ connection to virtual wards?
Here at Bytes, our project and operations teams work closely in partnership with Feebris - a digital healthcare company aiming to transform community care, reduce hospital wait times and free up hospital beds. Our role is to provide the connectivity for Feebris’ virtual ward kits and be responsible for managing the coordination, shipping, and deployments of these kits.
Feebris supply two types of virtual ward kits: continuous and intermittent. Continuous kits contain more devices that are worn continuously, and the intermittent kits are monitored sporadically. All kits contain the following equipment:
- Phone
- Blood Pressure Cuff
- Thermometer
- Pulse Oximeter
- Charging Plug and Cables
In addition, continuous kits also contain a portable ECG.
When setting up and deploying these virtual kits, we use the following process:
Phone Setup: This involves adding all mobile devices to our Mobile Device Management System (MDM). Having devices connected to an MDM allows them to function, also it allows us to access the phones remotely and provide support should the phones have technical issues.
Kit Assembly: All kits require specific devices as previously listed. They all need to match the kit IDs also, so each device will be individually labelled with the ID so that they can always be paired back with the kit that they belong in. Along with labelling, all devices need to be on the correct settings to be used and some may be paired with the phone, such as the BP cuff and the ECG, so that the readings from the monitors can be transferred directly to the Feebris app on the mobile device where all observations are stored for the hospitals to access and monitor.
Logistics: In partnership with Feebris, we take care of the continual coordination of the kits regarding the shipping, refreshing and set up. We receive the kits back at the Bytes office once they have been out with patients and it is our responsibility to ensure that the kits are up to standards to be sent back out, this includes making sure all is right technically and double checking all devices, and the actual kit is sterile and in good condition to be sent back to the hospitals. We then ship these kits back to the hospitals that they are from, ready for the hospitals to supply them to the next patient.
We provide continual support technically for the kits, as we can access the mobile devices at any point through our mobile device management. Therefore, Feebris are confident in our ability to support their mission.
"We couldn’t be happier with the service provided and would highly recommend them to other clients.”
Advantages of Virtual Wards
- Reducing the wait times in hospital.
- Allowing patients to be in the comfort of their own home.
- Freeing up hospital beds.
- Reducing re-admissions after using the virtual wards.
- Reduced length of stay at hospitals.
- Improved experience due to being in familiar surroundings at home, allowing patients to be visited by friends and family with no restrictions.
Stats of Virtual Wards (from the end of 2024)
- 3% reduction in the average hospital stay.
- 5% reduction in unscheduled emergency admission when using virtual wards.
- 50% reduction in re-admission rates after using virtual wards.
The future of virtual wards
With the developments of technology over the years, the future of virtual wards looks promising. With multiple benefits, virtual wards are likely to become a huge part of the future of healthcare. As healthcare continually integrates with virtual care, more patients can receive continuous support. However, challenges are likely to accompany technology, which overtime may improve but will always need to be a consideration when progressing technically. Despite this, virtual wards are likely to become a key part of modern healthcare improving healthcare and making it more accessible and efficient.
