The session will focus on how systems and providers can develop a virtual hospital hub model to maximise referrals from across hospital specialties to virtual wards/hospital-at-home services. Drawing on a collaborative model delivered by West Hertfordshire Hospitals and Central London Community Healthcare, it will showcase the benefits of the model and shed light on partnership working between acute and community providers, governance, clinical leadership, access to specialist advice, and digital enablers.

The virtual hospital in West Hertfordshire is a system-wide collaborative project across primary, community, acute and the voluntary sectors. Patients are referred from a variety of services as well as through case finding in hospital, and then onboarded by the virtual hospital hub. Patients can then receive the specialist acute care required for their condition in their own homes, enabled by remote-monitoring technology. West Hertfordshire will share its journey to develop the model, with key learnings and recommendations for delivery so far, as well as the latest evidence from a new evaluation.