NHS trust finds 100 percent of patients would recommend its virtual Hospital @ Home service

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BHFT) are now providing acute hospital care in patients’ homes seven days a week via a virtual hospital ward expansion, which enables professionals to perform therapy assessments and prescribe relevant assistive technologies to patients quickly and efficiently.

Through the expanded Frailty Virtual Community Ward, FHFT is freeing up vital hospital bed space and reducing admissions, as the NHS trust faces “substantial operational pressures”.

A recent Frimley Health Hospital @ Home survey showed that 100 percent of patients would recommend the service and would rather be treated at home than admitted to hospital for future episodes of care.

One patient’s family member said: “Exceptional care was given to my father. [The team] were very proactive and sorted out extra problems that they discovered on arrival, including a blocked catheter…. it’s an excellent approach to patient care.”

FHFT launched the service for older patients with frailty in north-east Hampshire, Farnham and Surrey Heath last year. The service is now being replicated by BHFT across east Berkshire. It now covers the entire Frimley Health and Care Integrated Care System (ICS).

There are two teams covering the north and south of the ICS and comprising staff from Frimley Health, Berkshire Healthcare and the Healthcare Resourcing Group. The teams can carry out blood, perform therapy assessments, provide equipment, and much more to support patients’ mobility.

Hospital @ Home also has a seven-day consultant geriatrician cover so patients can be referred to the team over a weekend, helping to free up hospital beds and avoid hospital admission where appropriate.

The expansion comes as the Frimley Health trust faces significant increased pressures with more than 400 patients a day visiting each of its emergency departments. The team will take referrals from GPs, specialist community nurses, NHS 111, 999, and for patients being stepped down from acute hospital care.

Instead of being sent an ambulance or being asked to attend hospital or a GP surgery, patients can be seen in their own homes by the Urgent Community Response (UCR) team within two hours of referral. They will also have follow-up visits from the team as necessary.

Caring for up to 24 patients every day, the team should significantly reduce avoidable hospital admissions of older patients and unnecessary attendances at emergency departments.

Lucy Abbott, a consultant geriatrician and the chief of service for community services and older people’s medicine at Frimley Health, said: “We were already ahead of the curve with our Hospital @ Home service.

“We had a team in place with the right skillset and a strong collaborative relationship with our local partners across the community.

“This expansion is a brilliant step forward for the service and will no doubt help more patients to get care they need within their own homes, while also helping to manage operational pressures across the system.”

This expanded Hospital @ Home service from FHFT and BHFT lines up with new UK Government guidance on hospital discharges, which consistently outlines a ‘home first’ approach to enable patients to recover and rehabilitate in their own homes. As explained in the recent guidance, discharging people permanently into care homes for the first time should only occur in “exceptional circumstances”.

Using virtual hospital wards to enable people to be treated in their own homes aligns with government goals of reducing hospital admissions and getting people to become independent in a familiar environment.