A qualitative exploration of patient experiences of Virtual Wards
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative exploration of patient experiences of Virtual Wards
IRAS ID
324370
Contact name
Ian Litchfield
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
The National Health Service is facing unprecedented pressure as demand continues to increase accelerated and compounded by a lack of capacity and workforce shortages . In attempting to address these issues NHSE is funding the establishment of virtual wards (VWs) (NHS England, 2022b). Through their use of digital tools and flexible working methods to support patients in their own home they are considered a safe and efficient alternative to NHS bedded care, preventing avoidable admissions or supporting early discharge
Owing to the relative novelty of virtual wards, and the need for “flexible and new ways of working”(NHS England, 2021) the models of care that support them are still evolving and evidence of effects and best practice in VW design and implementation are still to be fully established. This means there are a number of unanswered questions for service providers including the impact of collaborative cross-organisational working, workload and training on staff and identifying and measuring appropriate clinical outcomes (Thomas et al., 2021). There is also much to be learnt from patient experiences of referral, onboarding, and discharging; perceptions of the standard of care they receive on the ward; how reliance on technology-augmented care affects equitable access to VWs (Walton et al., 2022) and the reasons why some eligible patients were not referred or preferred to be cared for in hospital. Understanding this will help us maximise the safety, quality, and efficiency of VWs within BSOL ICS.
We will use a series of semi-structured interviews to gather the experiences of patients (and family members/carers) who received/receiving care on Virtual Wards and gather perspectives of those patients (and family member/carers) that declined the opportunity to be onboarded to VWs to understand the potential barriers to being cared for on Virtual Wards.
REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/PR/1091
Date of REC Opinion
14 Nov 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion