What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme?

Recent implementation and growth of digitally-enabled healthcare for patients @home required transformation that has been rapid, novel, and impacted across teams/functions.

Emerging evidence and experience identify a key challenge for transformation teams in the South West: they do not have the confidence or skill sets to use digital technology to its full advantage, leading to delayed delivery and inequity of service. The proposed project builds on previous work in the South West, including Covid Oximetry@Home and Covid Virtual Wards, as well as NHS@Home and Ageing Well, where an ethos of collaborative working and learning has been central to delivering successful outcomes.

Our project addresses the need for systematic support to transformation teams implementing Virtual Wards to share learning, collaborate, and easily access information.

Our project and approach align wholly with the challenge theme and supports expectations for a significant increase in virtual wards outlined in NHS England’s 2022/23 guidance.

What does your project aim to achieve?

To identify what success looks like we will work as a core project team to deliver:

• Innovation Hub: a learning forum with and for virtual wards innovators to share insights and learn together.
• ‘Prototype’: Define, co-produce and test a blueprint/approach based on learning from the Innovation Hub (including curated resources and evidence-based guidance).
• Champion programme: Enabling spread of the approach, alongside the innovation hub, to include both transformation innovators and change advocates.
• Insights: Capture project insights, including wider project learning, stakeholder mapping, hypotheses, and testing, plus the core group cross-organisational and collaborative learning process. This learning will feed into the above.

Our vision is that together, by the end of 16-months, the Prototype, Champions, and Innovation Hub will form a valuable resource for transformation teams implementing virtual wards, giving them confidence in the process, access to relevant tools/evidenced guidance, and building a culture of collaboration and joint learning.

How will the project be delivered?

The team covers Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset CCGs, South West AHSN, and teams from NHSE&I SW, including Digital Community Health Services and NHS@Home, bringing together a unique mix of skills and expertise across direct implementation, transformation, commissioning, innovation, and regional and national input. Furthermore, numerous NHS teams transforming care using Virtual Wards in the region have been engaged.

We have invested in building the core group and collaboration structures and are establishing foundations for developing the prototype. As a group we have brought in a facilitator and an evaluation and learning expert to support us Feb/Mar/Apr 2022. This is helping the group to build-in learning approaches.

The team has worked in 3–4-week sprints, driving forward activity and providing a framework for the work. Regular short ‘huddles’ provide informal touch points and, combined with the values above, they have enabled us to identify and manage risk well, using up-to-date information.

How is your project going to share learning?

It is a key aspect of the project to develop and disseminate learning.

• The Innovation Hub will form an open front door to the project, enabling collaboration and shared learning through regular workshops for innovators.
• Learning will be co-created and shared with innovators engaged in Innovation Hub sessions, whilst they are developing their Virtual Ward models and beyond.
• Through pilots with up to 9 sites, the Prototype and Innovation Hub will be tested with transformation teams, identifying insights, needs, and resources to incorporate into the Prototype, which will be shared and re-worked with those involved.
• Champions will support the dissemination of learning and resources through ‘network riding’, sharing insights and prototype through existing contacts and networks.
• The Prototype and emerging insights will also be accessible on a publicly available site like NHS Futures and will be signposted through organisational communications channels, as well as networks such as Q community networks.