FOR many industries, the pandemic has had a lasting impact, fuelling many new opportunities for growth and change, particularly in healthcare where virtual wards are now commonly used.
It’s a process which largely began during the early days of lockdown, when businesses had to react quickly to find new ways of working remotely, embracing technology to ensure they stayed connected to their staff, clients – and even their patients.
Now, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, some of these processes have remained in place, bringing with them enormous benefits – and exciting new opportunities – for healthcare providers and their patients.
As experts in the healthcare sector, K Low Consulting can help you learn more about these important developments, develop your strategy, help you create winning tender bids and grow your business.
What is a virtual ward?
Virtual wards allow patients to get the care they need at home, safely and conveniently, freeing up hospital beds for patients who really need them.
Supervised by hospital and community-based clinicians, virtual wards allow conditions such as coronavirus to be dynamically monitored while the patient stays in the comfort of their own home. For example, coronavirus patients can be discharged safely to a virtual ward with an oximeter – a small, lightweight device which measures the amount of oxygen in their blood. Readings are taken regularly and fed into the patients health tracking system. The system is configured to identify outlier readings, flagging these to both the patient and the clinical team for closer monitoring and escalation where required (either via video call or face-to-face visit).
The approach is all part of the NHS@Home programme which is building on the lessons learned from the pandemic, to enable patients to access personalised healthcare at home, rather than having to make appointments with their GP or make lengthy journeys to their local hospital.
It’s a growing trend which isn’t going anywhere. By December 2023, The Nuffield Trust estimates that the NHS will have 40-50 virtual ward ‘beds’ per 100,000 people.
What do virtual wards mean for my business?
The move to virtual wards is opening up new opportunities for businesses to get involved in the healthcare sector, particularly those involved in the manufacture of monitoring equipment including oximeters and heart monitors and healthcare providers, including care homes, who can demonstrate a clear technology strategy.
Businesses who can provide data management systems, which ensure patients’ data is managed securely and legally, are also likely to be in high demand.
How can K Low Consulting help me to expand my business?
When it comes to tender bids within the healthcare sector, we can help you to open doors.
We’ve successfully created hundreds of bids for our clients, leading to £1 billion in healthcare contracts for NHS England, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and the public health sector.
We work with all stakeholders to fully understand the challenges, using these insights to help our clients showcase their strengths and demonstrate how their business is best-placed to offer the best solutions.
If you would like more information or if would like to be made aware when relevant tender opportunities come up in your industry or field of expertise, contact us today on 0330 1331 041 or info@klowconsulting.com to see find out how we can help you.
