South and West Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership (HCP), which NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB is a partner of, has been shortlisted for a HSJ Award.
South and West Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership (HCP) has been shortlisted for a HSJ Award for the creation of a ground-breaking virtual hospital to care for people with lung disease and heart failure from their own home.
The HCP has been shortlisted in the Place-Based Partnership Category of the Awards for the way that local hospital, community and primary care health services are working together to support patients being discharged quickly from hospital and continue their recovery at home.
The development of the hospital has relied on expertise and experience from all partners of South and West Hertfordshire HCP, and staff employed by West Herts Teaching Hospitals (WHTH) and Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trusts providing the direct care to patients. It is in these ways that the virtual hospital provides integrated care for patients.
The service built on the success of an initial COVID-19 virtual hospital, which was launched at the beginning of the pandemic to care for patients with the virus.
The expanded service now offers care for patients with heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease (COPD). By providing a service from the comfort of a patient’s home, they can be discharged from a hospital setting earlier. Armed with devices like oxygen saturation and electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors that link to an app back at the hospital, patients can continue to be safely looked after at home - in the same way they would be in a hospital ward.
The virtual hospital nursing team monitor the patient’s readings, such as blood pressure and heart rate, and will call to check-in up to four times a day. Patients also receive a daily call from a consultant and will have regular home-visits from health and care professionals working in the community. If any readings are of concern at any time, a patient can quickly be seen in person, referred for additional tests or transferred to hospital if needed.
Since it was launched in December 2021, the virtual hospital has helped over 230 people with heart failure and COPD. There has been extensive positive feedback from patients who have been treated by the virtual hospital, and staff providing the services have reported an improved sense of ‘working together’.
The HCP has been shortlisted for the HSJ Award based on the ambition, outcome, value, involvement and working together that has been demonstrated through the development of the virtual hospital. It has also been recognised for the potential of its practices to be replicated elsewhere for the benefit of both patients and professional colleagues.
Dr Niall Keenan, Clinical Lead for the virtual hospital said, “The service is a great example of how our partners of South and West Hertfordshire HCP are working together and integrating services to make patient experience better and improving care. There is a true meeting of hearts and minds, with everyone working together to achieve the same goals. We are delighted for the work of our virtual hospital to be recognised in this way and hope we might even inspire other colleagues across the UK to pursue and put their ideas and innovations into practice too!”.
HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, comments, “On behalf of all my colleagues, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate South and West Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership on being shortlisted as a finalist in the category of Place-Based Partnership Award.
“We’re all very much looking forward to welcoming our finalists to the awards ceremony in November, celebrating their impressive achievements and jointly acknowledging our values of sharing best practice, improving patient outcomes and continuously driving for better service. But we never forget that the award ceremony is not just a celebration within a night, but a platform to recognise the hard work of all our health and social care staff, all year round.”
Learn about the South and West Hertfordshire HCP, including the area it covers and partner organisations.
The full list of finalists for the 2022 HSJ Awards can be found on its website.