Paediatric Virtual Ward

Introduction

This leaflet is for parents/carers of children and young people who can receive medical care at home instead of staying in hospital. It explains how the 'paediatric virtual ward' system works and what to expect.

What is the virtual ward?

It is not a physical ward in the hospital. It enables patients who meet certain criteria and who are happy for this approach, to be discharged from a physical hospital ward and to continue their care at home on a “virtual” ward.

Paediatric virtual wards

The virtual ward enables your child to go home but continue to receive Addenbrooke’s hospital care safely and conveniently in their own home. This leaflet provides information on how we do this.

Who works on a virtual ward?

The core care team includes your hospital doctor, experienced nurses, a pharmacist, and allied health professionals like physiotherapists, speech therapists, dietitians, and occupational therapists if needed.

What does a virtual ward look like?

It provides the same medical care as a hospital ward, but in the comfort of your own home. You will have regular contact with the hospital team providing individualised plans of care to meet your child’s individual needs.

How do you contact the virtual ward team?

Available seven days a week, 8 am to 8 pm on telephone number 07719 414726 for all paediatric virtual ward patients.

Please note that we are in the early stages of the service and our contact arrangements may be slightly different. Your doctor or nurse will share this with you.

In an emergency please call 999.

How is your child looked after on a paediatric virtual ward?

If your child is suitable for admission to the virtual ward and you agree, your will be put in contact with the virtual ward team. They will agree a personalised care plan for your child including monitoring equipment further investigations, medications, and frequency of contact. The virtual ward team will continue to assess and record your child’s care remotely.

How we contact each other

We will use a variety of methods to communicate with each other, including telephone, and video call.

When we use video, it is through our online video consultation provider, Attend Anywhere. We will arrange a time for you to log-on and you will be asked to enter your child’s details. You will then be connected to a health professional. Unfortunately, delays do arise, and you may need to wait for up to 30 minutes in a virtual waiting room until a health professional is available.

When asked to join the online consultation system, please use the link paediatric virtual ward (opens in a new tab). We would encourage you to join 10-15 minutes prior to your appointment time.

To use Attend Anywhere you will need the following: -

• A device for making a video call, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer with a webcam and speaker (often built into laptops).
• A reliable internet connection (wired, WiFi or mobile data).
• A private, well-lit area for your consultation, where you will not be disturbed.
• We will need to be able to see you and your child.

We would ask you to use the latest version of Chrome (Windows, Androids, MacOS), Safari (MacOS, iOS, iPadOS) or Edge (Windows) for best video calling performance.

Medication

Existing medication

Please tell the virtual ward staff about all the medicines your child uses. It is important they take the medicines as recommended by their doctor.

Your hospital doctor might need to change your medicines during your virtual ward stay. This will be discussed with you and a supply arranged if necessary.

Dispensing of medication whilst on the virtual ward

When your child leaves hospital for the virtual ward you will be given a supply of medicines labelled for them to take when you are receiving care through the virtual ward and for one to two weeks afterwards, if longer term medication is required.

If any further medicines (including usual medicines prescribed by the GP) are required during the stay on the virtual ward, these will need to be supplied by the hospital. Please make the virtual ward team aware if further medicines are required when you receive your daily call.

Please also ensure that you have enough supply of medicines to take that will give you time to organise new prescriptions from your GP and community pharmacy once your child is discharged from the virtual ward.

Unused medicines should be returned to your community pharmacy.

Discharge from the Virtual Ward:

You will receive a discharge summary for your GP and necessary community service contacts. Your GP, community provider, or existing specialist team will manage your care.

Consider signing up for MyChart for secure access to your health record.

For more information, visit My Chart/