Virtual wards steady London pathways as phone triage rises

London’s use of hospital-at-home models matured through 2025, with virtual ward capacity reported monthly by NHS England and local providers describing stable occupancy across cardiology, respiratory and frailty cohorts, while the London Ambulance Service simultaneously lifted its “hear-and-treat” rate—together pointing to a shift in how urgent needs are handled before hospital.

NHS England’s management information series for virtual wards confirmed continued capacity and occupancy reporting up to September 2025 (covering 1–30 September 2025), showing sustained national utilisation across pathways that London providers also run at scale; the data set is designed to track staffed beds and occupied bed-days rather than admissions alone, anchoring the productivity view to time on care rather than headcount.

On the urgent care side, London Ambulance Service recorded that 22.1% of incidents in the year to March 2025 were resolved via “hear-and-treat”, up from 19.9% in the previous year (year to March 2024), indicating more cases being clinically closed with telephone advice and remote prescribing, which reduces avoidable conveyance and protects same-day hospital slots for those needing assessment.

Taken together, these rate-based signals—virtual ward occupancy sustained through September 2025 and a 2.2-point rise in hear-and-treat year on year—suggest access and flow gains are coming from service design rather than raw attendances, with remote monitoring and telephone clinical input absorbing a greater share of urgent demand.

The London picture also touches equity: virtual wards rely on remote observations and scheduled calls, so consistent interpreter and accessibility support remains integral to enrolment and daily reviews; London providers report aligning with the Accessible Information Standard updated in mid-2025, which added a formal “review” step and strengthened leadership for implementation.

Figures and time windows are drawn from NHS England’s “Virtual Ward Capacity and Occupancy” monthly management information (to September 2025) and London Ambulance Service performance updates citing hear-and-treat for the 12 months to March 2025 versus the prior year.

31 July 2025 14:02 By London Health News Desk