A FIRST of its kind service which helps give patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) the care they need in their own home is being extended throughout Donegal.
The CARE community virtual ward (CVW) service gives people living with COPD acute care and the treatment they need at home, preventing avoidable admissions into hospital or supporting early discharge out of hospital.
Community virtual wards allow patients to get hospital-level care at home safely and in familiar surroundings, helping speed up their recovery while freeing up hospital beds for patients that need them most. Many virtual wards use technology like apps, wearables and other medical devices. In Donegal this is done by the use of novel digital technology to help clinical staff to easily check in and monitor the person’s condition. It will also support patients to become partners in their care by upskilling them in self managing their own condition.
Up to now the service has been offered to a small group of patients in Donegal but it has now been extended throughout the county.
Liam (COPD Patient participated in the Community Virtual Ward proof of concept) stated he had ‘lost count’ of the number of admissions he had before going on the Community Virtual Ward and stated: “Honestly it’s hard to put into words what it’s done for me, it’s just changed my life’ he also stated that ‘I found it very comforting that you had your IPAD and that there was somebody, somewhere looking at it.”
A family member of another patient stated: “This has changed my mum’s life. Prior to this, she always had to go to hospital to have her infections treated and for the first time in many years, she has managed to remain at home when ill.”
Now, the 20 bedded CARE Virtual Ward (CVW), with support and governance from the Acute Respiratory Physician LUH, will provide blue tooth enabled equipment, which when worn overnight by the patient, will monitor their respiratory rate which is the most important physiological clinical indicator of deterioration. The patient’s oxygen saturation levels and heart rate will be monitored by the patient as required and information sent to the team via blue tooth enabled equipment.
Monitoring equipment and an App have been designed (in conjunction with HSE National Digital and Innovation team) to the requirements of the local team.
Using a traffic light triage system, this information will alert the clinician to a deterioration in the patient’s condition which will prompt them to initiate a contact with the patient. This targeted, safe virtual care in the community will be followed up by whatever appointment that is deemed necessary e.g. clinic appointment with Physiotherapist/CNS service or a home visit.
Mandy Doyle, Head of Primary Care, Community Healthcare Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo said:
“The CARE programme demonstrates how Sláintecare works in our communities by making the right care available in the right place. This programme demonstrates how modern pathways of care, alongside technological improvements and innovations can have such a positive impact on patient care.”
Highlighting the impact this project will have, Dr Olga Mikulich, CARE Clinical Lead and Respiratory Consultant at LUH said “We will be ultimately aiming for two-way streams: to facilitate supported discharges of identified patients and to prevent admissions of COPD patients who historically required multiple admissions or ED presentations. In time, we will be accepting referrals from the Hospital COPD outreach team/Respiratory ANP and from GPs too.”
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