Nottingham: New virtual unit allows patients to die at home

The new virtual ward began operating in February

A new virtual unit is giving end-of-life patients the option to spend their final days at home.

Based at Hayward House in Nottingham City Hospital, the unit currently has capacity for six patients.

They receive daily medical reviews from consultants, as well as visits from community nursing staff.

Bosses say the pilot scheme is only for people who wish to be at home and can encourage the best quality of life for patients.

Heather Young said there was "definitely room for growth" with the virtual ward

Heather Young, who manages the virtual ward, said it offered patients "the best of both worlds" as they had access to specialist support in the comfort of their own home.

Ms Young said the benefits of the virtual ward were two-fold, as it could relieve the "significant" post-pandemic hospital pressures, while providing patients with a choice.

Palliative medicine consultant, Dr Cathrine Vincent, said patients on the virtual ward "still have all of the same care they would have in hospital".

"It's really important that we talk to people about where they want to be and most patients want to be in their own home," she said.

"But the reality when that time comes can be very different. We're starting small and seeing how we get on."

Dr Cathrine Vincent said the scheme was not "all about freeing up hospital beds", but about patients living

Dr Vincent offered an example of a recent patient of the virtual ward, who had not been sleeping well in hospital, which can lead to delirium.

She said: "Get people in their own environment if that's where they want to be, give them that comfort and people get better.

"We've certainly seen with him, he feels better within himself. But it also means symptoms are better controlled.

"We see that pain, anxiety, breathlessness, all those things improve when people feel better in themselves - and being in their own environment can often help with that.

"Sometimes people think palliative care is about dying, it's not. It's about living every last day, month, year as well as they can."