Correspondence - Delays to invasive coronary angiography in NSTE-ACS: insights from a tertiary PCI centre and the case for outpatient virtual wards

Cardiac Surgery Virtual WardProblem:• Bed days wait for inpatient surgery is rising to 10-12 days.• Increased risk of death due to Myocardial Infarction (MI), hospital acquired infection and other complications.• Disrupted patient flow, capacity problems, inefficient and expensive use of healthcare resources. Solution:• 20% patients meet criteria to be safely managed at home on the Cardiac Surgery Virtual Ward.• These patients transition from urgent non-elective cardiac surgery to elective cardiac surgery.• Patients wait for procedure at home rather than as inpatients.• Ortus-iHealth remote monitoring platform provides clinicians with a digital platform to remotely monitor patients, communicate, schedule appointments, manage consent and deliver patient education and information.*Results: *In a study of 100 patients onboarded to Cardiac Surgery Virtual Ward, Barts Health Centre 10 bed days freed up per patient + inpatient wait time reduced 1 in 5 patients managed safely at home 95% Good -Overall patient experience £19,000 earned per elective surgery Zero clinician-led cancellations Assess Suitability Discharge with Surgery