\n A virtual ward pilot in East Sussex is targeting people with complex mental health needs, including dementia, by delivering joined-up, community-based care that combines remote and in-person support.\n<\/p>\n
\n The scheme aims to help patients stay safely at home or in care homes while receiving hospital-level oversight and treatment from a specialist multidisciplinary team.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Laura Brummer, clinical director for the East Sussex division, said: “By investing more in community services for older adults and people living with dementia, this gives us more options for how we deliver high-quality care, and for this to be led by a person’s needs and wishes.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The virtual ward model allows us to provide physical and mental health hospital-level oversight whilst enabling patients to remain safely at home wherever possible.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The pilot is a joint effort between Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n So far, it has shown promising results in reducing hospital admissions. Patients are supported by teams specialising in both physical and mental health.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Fraser MacNicoll, consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead for the pilot, said: “Working in this way enables us to provide the right level of specialist dementia and mental health care while people remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own surroundings.\n<\/p>\n
\n “For people living with dementia and older adults with mental health needs, this can be especially beneficial in reducing distress, maintaining independence and involving families more closely in care.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The approach not only aims to reduce distress, but also helps free up hospital beds for those who need them most.\n<\/p>\n
\n The pilot is part of a wider effort to expand community-based care for older people across Sussex and could be extended further if the positive results continue.\n<\/p>\n
\n Joanna Byers, head of nursing for rapid response and virtual wards at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “We are pleased to be working together with Sussex Partnership on this pilot, which represents a strong example of effective cross-provider collaboration.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A virtual ward pilot in East Sussex is targeting people with complex mental health needs, including dementia, by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":["post-452143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}