PATIENTS can now be admitted on to new 'virtual wards' to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.
Hampshire Community Health Care has launched the new virtual ward scheme in Lee-on-the-Solent and Portchester.
Patients are admitted onto the wards with long term conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart failure,
neurological diseases, cancer and palliative care.
A community matron will then assess their individual needs and plans are developed with the individual patient so they are able to self-manage their conditions with additional support.
Dr Gordon Sommerville, senior partner at Westlands Medical Centre in Portchester, is supporting the new initiative.
He said: 'It is a very interesting development for us locally and has got off to a great start.
'The feedback from patients is very positive and encouraging.'
The virtual ward team is made up of a community matron and a team of health care professionals, a ward administrator and specialist nurse teams. They work together to make sure each patient gets the specific care they need in the comfort of their own home.
The virtual ward project will be reviewed at the end of six months with the hope of rolling out the same model of care to other areas of Fareham and Gosport in the near future.
