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Community Virtual Ward allows patients to receive hospital monitoring and treatment at home, offering a ‘step up’ service to prevent avoidable admissions to hospital.

There are three treatment pathways:

• Respiratory
• Frailty
• Heart Failure

We expect patients to be under the Community Virtual Ward for up to 14 days, depending on their treatment plans and recovery.

If suitable for virtual ward care, patients are trained how to use a device which sends continuous or intermittent observations including their breathing, heart rate, and skin temperature directly to the Community Virtual Ward team.

If there is a sign of health deterioration such as blood pressure rising, the Community Virtual Ward team gets an alert immediately. Staff can call the patient over the phone or by video call to talk through any health changes and to decide on the most appropriate next steps.

The service operates from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week. 

Community Virtual Ward is currently available to patients registered with a GP in Norwich, West Norfolk and East Norfolk. We hope to expand the service to the rest of Norfolk and Waveney in time.

The service is appropriate for patients over 18 with conditions including respiratory disease, frailty, and heart failure.

Patients in any community setting including community hospitals, residential care homes and nursing homes can also be referred.

Patients must be able to manage the remote monitoring technology with support.

Patients who cannot be referred to Community Virtual Ward include:

• Patients with no fixed abode
• Patients with advanced cognitive conditions who do not have the continuous support of family or carers
• Patients requiring intravenous therapy with a recent history of illicit intravenous drug misuse
• Patients with a presenting condition that require acute assessment or admission and are deemed unsafe to remain in a community setting

If you think you have patients who could be safely supported at home with the aid of monitoring technology and with Advanced Clinical Practitioners managing the clinical care (ACPs), please use the referral route as below.

There is a single point of contact for referrals to this service:

Telephone: 03000 247 222 (existing NEAT contact number)

We have an information leaflet about Community Virtual Ward for patients. 

For more details about the Community Virtual Ward and to answer any additional questions you may have about the service contact:

Privacy notice for NCH&C Virtual Ward Service

Privacy notice for NCH&C Virtual Ward Service - EASY READ