Publish date: 24 August 2023
A care home resident was saved a trip to hospital thanks to being cared for on a “virtual ward”.
The woman at Fleetwood Hall Care Home was suffering a chest infection. The paramedic who examined her identified that she required close monitoring which could be delivered by the virtual ward meaning she could stay and feel safe in her familiar surroundings.
The resident who was suffering with a chest infection was admitted onto the Respiratory Virtual Ward as an alternative to taking her to hospital.
The lady was monitored by FCMS, a remote monitoring team, who were able to provide close clinical monitoring support and accessed a respiratory consultant at the MDT to ensure the patient received the correct care. Care home staff supported the patient in using the remote monitoring equipment and shortly reported an improvement in her condition. Lexie Smith, Deputy Manager at Fleetwood Hall Care Home commented “All virtual ward staff we spoke to were incredibly helpful and there was no pushing for observations if we hadn’t managed to get them at the time, they just called us back later in the day.”
All patients on a virtual ward being remotely monitored have access to a 24 hour helpline which Lexie described as being really helpful. “Knowing there was someone at the end of the phone gave us piece of mind. The resident was not discharged until both parties were happy that she had fully recovered.”
Kathryn Best, Clinical head of primary and community care at FCMS who provide remote monitoring for virtual wards commented, “This is a great example of how patients can be given a choice about where they receive their care, in this instance we were able to work with a care home to treat the lady where she preferred to be. We currently operate two other virtual wards in this way and in turn are preventing potentially long hospital stays”.
Steven Geldart, Virtual Wards Lead, at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals said the ability to support care home residents through the virtual wards is a crucial next step since its first launch in November 2022. “This is a great example of how different agencies can work together to provide better care for patients and reduce pressure on our health care services.”
