The ‘General Medicine virtual ward’ will be working closely with the existing medical SDEC team at RHCH and the ACU team at BNHH. The Telemedicine team aims to enhance the current services being offered by supporting patients and the SDEC/ACU teams with close monitoring of patients within their own homes. We hope the additional support and monitoring, will encourage clinicians to have greater confidence when discharging more unstable patients with non-COVID pathology from their inpatient wards. Types of patients who could be referred to the service are:
- Patients who have recently stopped IV diuretics and started on oral therapy requiring monitoring to ensure transition is stable
- Patients who have recently stopped IV antibiotics and started oral therapy requiring monitoring to ensure transition is stable
- Patients awaiting decision-critical investigation which be performed within the next 2 weeks
- Patients who have recently achieved physiological stability on News score but requires monitoring for a few days to ensure stability
The General Medicine virtual ward will be open 7 days a week from 08:00-20:00. Referrals will be accepted from all inpatient wards across RHCH and BNHH sites.
This is an ICP supported initiative, with primary care, HHFT, CCG and community colleagues all working together to support our patients to get the best integrated care possible.
For more information on this virtual ward, please contact the Telemedicine team on 01962 824067.
