BHT - Hospital at Home
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Healthwatch Bucks undertook research on people's experience of hospitals at home or virtual wards. They spoke to 38 patients, 16 carers and ten staff members.
Most patients said that treatment began at home almost immediately after they were referred to virtual wards. However, some said that they were not expecting the ‘first’ visit as they were not notified in advance about the day/expected time that virtual ward staff would visit. These patients were mainly referred through their GP, acute day emergency care and the emergency department.
A few patients said that while their experience of virtual wards was positive, they did not feel that they were ready to be discharged from hospital.
Patients were very satisfied with the care that they received from virtual ward staff. Almost all either strongly agreed or agreed that staff treated them with kindness, respect and dignity. Most patients said that virtual ward staff responded quickly to emails and telephone enquiries.
Patients were given all the necessary equipment to take their health readings and submit them on a digital app. While patients said that the app was easy to use, one person told us that the hospital Wi-Fi signal was weak when a clinician was demonstrating how to instal the app. They installed the app at home but said they felt rushed at hospital.
Patients liked having home comforts, being around family, not at risk of getting hospital bugs or being woken during the night. Their main challenges were getting an appointment with their GP, long term care needs and the physical home environment.
Overall carers were very satisfied with the virtual ward service. They identified the main benefits to be good access to support and bespoke care for the patient in their own home.
Staff liked being able to treat patients in their homes. Their biggest challenges were communication between virtual ward staff, capacity to carry out visits, the reliability of patient readings, not being able to liaise with GPs for medication and lack of communication and support from senior staff.