Baywater Healthcare: Setting up a virtual ward

October 5, 2023

Image: © ipopba | iStock

In an era marked by technological leaps and a shift towards patient-centred care, a virtual ward has emerged as a pioneering solution that bridges the gap between traditional hospital setups and the convenience of remote healthcare

In this comprehensive guide, award- winning virtual ward provider Baywater Healthcare walks you through the step-by-step process of setting up a virtual ward and harnessing its transformative capabilities.

What is a virtual ward?

A virtual ward is a digital solution for clinicians to support patients in their homes. It is a wraparound service that ensures patients can quickly receive the care they need while reducing the need for avoidable hospital admission.

Baywater Healthcare’s virtual ward solution is a ground-breaking platform that empowers healthcare providers to manage patients’ health needs while providing personalised care plans remotely.

Managed telehealth or virtual ward?

You should establish whether it is a telehealth or virtual ward service you require. Consider how long of a contract you need and how much this will cost. A telehealth service provides all the equipment and the platform for extended monitoring of any long-term condition.

A virtual ward can provide the equipment, although most patients have their own smart devices and only require the peripherals to take their vital signs. Patients would be on a virtual ward for a short period of time, a maximum of 14 days, and usually would have remained in hospital for this period.

It is also possible to commission a hybrid model should some patients need to stay on long-term telehealth monitoring and be on a short-stay virtual ward.

Requirements

Before starting the implementation process, conducting a thorough needs assessment and planning phase is crucial. This involves evaluating your goals, existing infrastructure, measuring outcomes and patient population needs. You should consider factors like patient volume, demographics and the range of medical conditions to be managed through the platform.

It may be simpler to start with one or two clinical conditions with a manageable patient caseload and scale up as your team gains confidence in the virtual ward and how to maximise the benefits and clinical outcomes of the service.

It is essential to ensure that your whole team is on board. Working collaboratively with the provider and the wider team to build the service together ensures that the service delivers the best clinical outcomes.

Service requirements

When setting up a virtual ward, you must know what service you want to commission, what conditions can be monitored and establish what pathways you want. Your provider can offer you support with designing your virtual ward to ensure you optimise the benefits of a virtual ward whilst staying within your budget.

Baywater Healthcare’s virtual ward can monitor a wide range of conditions and wellbeing needs, including but not limited to the following:

Frailty.
Respiratory.
Cardiac.
Learning disability.
Mental health.
Oncology.
Care homes, including assisted living.
Diabetes.
Wound care.
Paediatrics

Equipment

It is essential to consider what equipment and peripherals your patients will need while on the virtual ward. Consideration should be given to how the patient will use their peripherals and the clinical information you will see. Asking a provider to provide everything to all patients gives an unrealistic cost to the service, which could negatively impact your budget.

Consider how equipment and peripherals will be returned, or whether it is more cost-effective to leave peripherals with patients rather than the cost of collection and decontamination. Do your patients already have some peripherals, such as oximeters and blood pressure monitors? Not having to provide this equipment to these patients could be a cost-saving.

It is advantageous to ask providers what equipment they can provide. For example, when using Baywater Healthcare’s ward, patients are encouraged to use their own devices if they have them, as this familiarity helps with compliance. Patients are also supplied with a tablet or phone to access their application and peripherals. Training literature and materials to support them on the virtual ward and a 24-hour, seven-day freephone technical support helpline are all provided should the patient have any issues.

Referral and onboarding

When setting up a virtual ward, you must consider the administration required and resourcing. Clinical staff must focus on patient care and not on administration tasks. If you expect a high patient throughput with admissions and discharges, choosing a provider who can manage these tasks may be more effective.

“Baywater Healthcare’s virtual ward solution is a ground-breaking platform that empowers healthcare providers to manage patients’ health needs while providing personalised care plans remotely.”

If required, Baywater Healthcare provides full administration support for the virtual ward, onboarding patients through phone calls and email. The patient is supported to download the app and log in. They also support the clinical teams in setting up question trees and alerts for the patients on the ward, and these can be amended easily and quickly.

Monitoring

If a patient is admitted to a virtual ward, they must be monitored to ensure they submit their data as required and supported if they are not following their clinical pathway.

Providers like Baywater Healthcare support non-compliant patients or those having problems using the virtual ward and can provide clinical triage if required. The clinician has training on the clinical portal to monitor the patient easily and quickly.

Assistance

You should consider the technology required and the level of assistance needed when setting up a virtual ward. Technical assistance can be provided to patients and clinicians using a virtual ward in several ways; patients can message, video call and phone call
for help.

It would help if you also establish what training may be required for your staff when delivering this service. Baywater offers support by providing virtual and face-to-face training for clinicians on the clinical portal, and we can provide administration support where needed.