NEW: Driving Virtual Wards and Hospital at Home Through Digital

NEW: Driving Virtual Wards and Hospital at Home Through Digital
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Virtual wards and hospital at home services provide patients with hospital level care in their own homes. They are designed for people who would otherwise require an inpatient bed, often for acute conditions such as frailty or cardiology, and rely on continuous monitoring, rapid response and close multidisciplinary team coordination.

The NHS is expanding these services, supported by new national digital platforms for remote monitoring, care planning and escalation, with integration into the NHS App and Single Patient Record a key future aim.

This award will recognise NHS organisation led programmes that have embedded virtual wards or hospital at home services using digital technology to deliver measurable benefits. Judges will look for improvements in patient outcomes and experience, more efficient use of hospital capacity, and evidence that the model is sustainable and scalable.

Eligibility

  • All NHS organisations (including providers, partnerships, and systems), General Practice and primary care organisations.
  • Evidence must relate to a project, ongoing or completed within the 2 years up until the award entry deadline.

Ambition

  • Explain the case for introducing or expanding a virtual ward or hospital at home service, including the needs or pressures it addresses.
  • Describe your objectives for using digital tools to deliver hospital level care in the home.
  • Outline how success was defined for safety, outcomes and efficiency. 

Outcome

  • Provide evidence of measurable improvements such as reduced admissions, earlier discharge, improved condition management at home and higher patient satisfaction.
  • Show how digital tools have supported safe monitoring, timely escalation and effective multidisciplinary team working.
  • Include any integration achieved with the NHS App, Single Patient Record or other system level platforms. 

Value

  • Quantify benefits such as reduced bed occupancy, cost savings, improved productivity or time released for direct care.
  • Explain how it has supported wider system priorities such as reducing pressure on urgent and emergency care.
  • Highlight any additional benefits realised for patients, staff or the wider system.

Involvement

  • Describe how clinical teams, operational staff and digital specialists worked together to design and deliver the service.
  • Provide evidence of patient and carer involvement in shaping the model.
  • Explain how community, primary care or social care partners were engaged.

Spread

  • Provide evidence of adoption across multiple pathways, conditions or geographies.
  • Describe how learning has been shared across your organisation or system.
  • Outline the potential and plans for scaling the model further.

To find out more

Partnership opportunities:  Sponsorship Sales Team
Awards entry enquiries: Delegate Sales Team
Judging and event management: Awards Support