Impact Evaluation of Virtual Wards

Tender description

The purpose of this contract is to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of virtual wards as an intervention to better manage demand and capacity in secondary care, whilst supporting optimal patient outcomes. The evaluation will set out to understand the following: 1. Effectiveness of reducing the number of avoidable hospital admissions 2. The impact on hospital demand and capacity 3. Understand the relative equivalence of a virtual ward admission avoidance activity compared with an emergency medical admission in an acute hospital setting. 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 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.