Virtual Wards - Admission To A Virtual Ward

Admission To A Virtual Ward

Admission to a virtual ward is determined both by predictive modelling and by clinical decision making by the Virtual Ward team and the patient's doctor. This ensures that the patients admitted to a virtual ward are truly those who will benefit the most, i.e. those most at risk of unplanned hospital admission. The NHS in England owns two predictive risk models which were commissioned from a consortium led by The King's Fund. These predictive tools are known as PARR (Patients At Risk of Readmission), which was built by New York University and the Combined Model, built by Health Dialog.

At the time of admission to the virtual ward, the Virtual Ward lead, which may be an Assertive Case Manager as in Dudley PCT's collaborative model, or a community matron visits the patient at home and conducts an initial assessment. This record, and all further entries by ward staff, are entered into a community care record, and additionally recorded at the patient's GP practice. A summary from the GP computer system is pasted into these ward notes before the initial assessment, so as to provide background information and avoid unnecessary duplication of work. The GP practice is informed of all significant changes to the patient's management.