Virtual Hospital Ward

Information for Health Professionals

The Virtual Hospital Ward service is available 8am-8pm, 7 days

Tel: 1300 792 755, select "Option 2"

Fax: (02) 4253 0355

VeCC's Virtual Hospital Ward supports patients who would otherwise remain in hospital requiring sub-acute care at home. The Virtual Hospital Ward provides patients with access to remote monitoring of their blood pressure, oxygen levels, temperature, blood glucose levels, weight and symptoms allowing real-time assessment by clinicians.

Patients are in the Virtual Hospital Ward service for generally between 3-5 days. They are:

  • Provided with equipment and education preferably prior to leaving hospital 
  • Expected to do their observations minimum three times a day
  • Provided with a daily video call with a medical officer or nursing staff.

Inclusion criteria

  • Stable Acute Respiratory Patients
  • Heart Failure Patients
  • Patients with an acute medical condition which has been stabilised in hospital.

Exclusion criteria

  • Patients requiring inpatient hospital management
  • Patients on oxygen (who weren't previously on oxygen) unless they are part of the Short Term Oxygen Trial (STOT)
  • Patients residing in a High Level Residential Aged Care Facility
  • Patients who do not consent to be part of this program
  • Patients with cognitive deficits impacting treatment engagement and not able to be supported to utilise the technology with help of a carer
  • Patients who live outside of the Illawarra or Shoalhaven

Referrals to the Virtual Hospital Ward

1. Choose your referral method:            
            ˃ eMR referral: go to "order" list, type "community health ISLHD"
            ˃ Email referral: ISLHD-AccessandReferralCentre@health.nsw.gov.au
2. The referral will be triaged by the Nurse Unit Manager and the VeCC Medical Officer
3. The VeCC will contact the referring team to accept the patient
4. Once care is accepted, the referring team should call 1300 792 755 (option 2) to speak to:
            ˃ A medical officer for clinical handover (compulsory)
            ˃ Similar process for nursing handover (compulsory)
            ˃ Up-to-date discharge summary (strongly encouraged)
5. If the patient requires antibiotics to be administered at home, please refer to Hospital in the Home (HITH) via a separate email.

Monitoring patients on the Virtual Hospital Ward

Patients are provided with the equipment required to monitor their health:

VeCC equipment for patients to monitor their health