Impact and economic evaluation of Virtual Wards

PLEASE NOTE CONTRACT VALUE HAS CHANGED.

NHS England is looking for a supplier to determine the impact and effectiveness of virtual wards as an intervention to better manage demand and capacity in secondary care, whilst supporting optimal patient outcomes.

There is an urgent need to evaluate virtual wards to determine:

1. The effectiveness of VWs in reducing the number of avoidable hospital admissions (Step-up )

2. The impact of VWs on hospital demand and capacity (Step-up & Step-down)

3. While there is a debate about the bed-based approach to quantifying capacity in VWs, there is a need to understand the relative equivalence of a virtual ward admission avoidance activity compared with an emergency medical admission in an acute hospital setting. There are several important factors to consider, such as the number of virtual ward admissions that end in a hospital admission and the case mix of patients including how unwell they are.

4. The cost-effectiveness of VWs to the health system and wider social care system.

5. Assessment of health inequalities, including access and outcomes

6. A robust and recommended methodological approach to ongoing evaluations, which can be developed into a toolkit.

7. Enablers and blockers to uptake and impact of VW in secondary care and social care

8. Impact VWs on patient outcomes.