Shropshire virtual ward beds set to double

The number of virtual ward beds is set to double across Shropshire as part of an effort to reduce the number of hospital patients in the region, and there are now more than 100 patients across the county who receive care through home visits or via an online “ward round”.

Through the scheme, patients can be prescribed medication, have blood tests, or be administered fluids through an intravenous drip, keeping hospital beds freed up.

The number is set to increase, as Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust is required to have 249 virtual ward beds by December 2023, according to chief executive Patricia Davies.

Speaking at a recent board meeting, Ms Davies said the wards were a joint initiative with the acute trust, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Speaking about the scheme, Ms Davies said some of the patients had “stepped up” from community care, while others had “stepped down” from hospital care, and added that the trust was now looking at “industrialising the process of the virtual ward” even further across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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