NICE issues update on its ongoing activity in virtual wards

NICE has published an update this week on its work to support NHS England’s ambition for virtual wards.

In an article on the organisation’s website, Mark Salmon, programme director within NICE’s science evidence and analytics team, explained how it was contributing to the effort through three streams of work and outlined the aims for the project.

Mark (pictured) said: “The ambition for virtual wards is to expand the capacity of the acute care sector by managing patients, who would otherwise be in hospital, remotely in their homes, creating potential staffing efficiencies and providing safe and more convenient care for patients.

“NHS priorities and operational planning guidance sets an ambition for systems to deliver 40 to 50 virtual ward beds safely and sustainably per 100,000 population by December 2023.

“This is equal to the delivery of up to 24,000 virtual ward beds and £450m additional funding over two years has been made available to systems to support this transformation.

“At a minimum, NHS England state that they expect each ICS to implement virtual ward models for two pathways: acute respiratory infection and frailty.”

The three streams of work that NICE is involved in are:

·       Development of a NICE clinical guideline on acute respiratory infection in over 16s

·       Development of technology assessment guidance on technologies that enable virtual wards

·       Development of economic evaluations and implementation support tools.

To read Mark’s article in full, click here