The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) has officially opened a virtual ward as part of Victoria's first Virtual Hospital Pilot program, delivered in partnership with Austin Health.
In an exciting way to deliver care beyond the RMH's walls, the virtual ward supports patients with heart failure and those recovering from cardiac surgery, who would otherwise need a hospital stay, to recover safely at home.
Instead of being admitted to hospital, eligible patients will be given wearable monitoring devices to track vital signs and recovery progress from home, with data securely shared to the patient's hospital record so care teams can monitor them in real time.
They will also receive a daily, virtual check-in.
Only patients who are an appropriate fit will be admitted to virtual wards - but for those who are eligible or choose to take part, the RMH is excited to be able to provide innovative, world-class care closer to home.
The virtual ward is being implemented in stages, with five virtual beds opening this week and a further five beds planned for early February.
The RMH's Project Manager for Clinical Projects, Ben Smith, said this exciting new initiative aims to provide patients with a better, more comfortable hospital experience.
"The expected benefits include more care delivered at home, an improved patient experience and better use of inpatient capacity through improved patient flow," he said.
The virtual ward is the latest step in the Virtual Hospital Pilot program, following on from initiatives including a virtual foetal medicine service, delivered in partnership with The Royal Women's Hospital, and virtual ward rounds for regional neurology and haematology patients.
You can learn more about the Virtual Hospital project here
We provide a media service from 6am to 9pm each day. Journalists are welcome to contact our media adviser on-call via the RMH Switchboard on (03) 9342 7000.
During business hours, journalists can email mh-communications@mh.org.au. We do not respond to emails outside business hours.