Remote Monitoring Virtual Ward (RMVW)

This leaflet is for patients who have been identified as being safe and eligible to receive medical care from the comfort of their homes.

It is important for us to make sure you fully understand what is involved with the RMVW hub.

What is the Remote Monitoring Virtual Ward?

The aim of the (RMVW) hub is for you to be safely monitored in your usual place of residence, as an alternative to being in a hospital bed. You will be provided with technology to monitor your vital signs.
You will have an individual virtual ward care plan designed to meet your specific needs.
This technology offers support when it comes to:

• Earlier discharge from hospital
• Protecting the wellbeing of vulnerable patients without the need for face to face contact
• Quickly identifying any deterioration of health

What does a virtual ward look like?

You will have daily contact with the remote monitoring team, who will phone and check how you are progressing and discuss your monitoring results. The core team includes your hospital doctor, an advanced practitioner, and a team of experienced nurses.

The RMVW hub will contact you daily as part of a ‘virtual ward round’, usually by telephone. Please ensure that we have the correct contact details for you, enabling us to contact you when needed.

Your commitment to RMVW

You will be asked to complete a set of observations (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature) daily. The times will be advised to you during your onboarding appointment with the RMVW hub team.

You will also receive daily reminders/alerts advising when you should submit a reading. To ensure that your health can be monitored whilst at home, you will need to complete the observations within the set timescales given.

You will be expected to input your readings on a device correctly. The information will then feed into a system that will be viewed by clinical staff within the RMVW hub.
When you are well enough to be discharged from the RMVW, a discharge summary will be sent out to you and your GP.

Opening hours

RMVW hub is open between the hours of 8am – 7pm

When the RMVW hub contacts you, it will be via a telephone call or video call on your personal mobile phone. The RMVW hub can also send automated messages to a landline if this is your preferred method of communication.

Out of Hours

For some specialties there will be a 24-hour Clinical Service Unit (CSU) to contact. If there is one for your pathway, the contact number will be listed in the table below.

Contact

What happens if I am not responding to treatment or feel more unwell?

The RMVW hub team will be alerted if you are not recovering or responding to treatment as expected. All alerts will be picked up by a member of staff to action.

Depending on the severity of the alert, you may be asked to attend hospital to see a doctor face to face. However, on most occasions, slight amendments such as medication changes can be made over the telephone.

Device information and guidance

The remote monitoring device kit that you have been given is used by the RMVW team to help keep you safe at home whilst you are on the virtual ward. All devices are tailored to your your specific needs.

The devices are maintained and decontaminated between each patient. Please ensure you have read and signed the patient consent form before you take any devices home.

You will receive a welcome pack via email or text message when you are onboarded on to the RMVW. This will contain guides on how to use the devices and how to input your observations. If you have any issues with this, please contact the RMVW hub and a member of the team will be able to assist you. There will also be links to a website that you can use to access patient information. If it any time your device is not working correctly, please contact the RMVW hub.

If there are any issues with Inhealthcare app (where the observations are entered onto), the RMVW hub will contact you. You will be asked to give all readings over the phone. If at any time you have issues logging into the Inhealthcare system to log your observations, please do not hesitate to contact the RMVW hub.

Returning the devices

Please return all devices after being discharged from the virtual ward, to: St James’s Hospital, Lincoln Wing, Discharge Lounge

It is important the devices are returned within a timely manner to ensure they can be used by another patient. If you have any problems returning your device, please contact the remote monitoring team for help and advice.

Patient log in details – Inhealthcare

You will be given all the information you need to enable you to log into the Inhealthcare system and input your observations. Contact the RMVW hub if you do not have the information required.