Over two days in June 2025, more than 270 professionals and academics from across the UK gathered in Leeds for a national conference on the expanding field of Hospital at Home (H@H) – also known as Virtual Wards – to share the latest evidence and best practice knowledge in this space and foster new collaborations. The conference was co-hosted by NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM), NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Yorkshire and Humber (ARC-YH), and the Hospital at Home Society.
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The event provided excellent opportunities for networking, making connections, and sharing experiences with other teams and professionals working in the field of Hospital at Home and Virtual Wards across the UK. There was significant shared learning, allowing participants to understand the breadth of work, progress, and challenges in Hospital at Home and Virtual Wards services, and learn from the experiences of other Trusts.
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Day One: Showcasing the Evidence in Adult Hospital at Home Services
On 23rd June, ARC-Greater Manchester led the first day of the conference, bringing together healthcare providers, researchers, commissioners and policymakers to explore the growing evidence behind Hospital at Home services for adults.
Charlotte Lynch, Strategy & Policy Lead at NHS England, opened the day with a keynote presentation highlighting the current political landscape, the new national minimum dataset and early findings from the national H@H evaluation. She said:
The programme featured the latest research evidence and evaluation findings including those from the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations and the wider NIHR Infrastructure.
The day was chaired by Prof. Suzanne Mason (ARC Y&H), with contributions to the organisation from Prof. Dawn Dowding (ARC-GM) and Dr Will Whittaker (The University of Liverpool). In the morning, further presentations focused on implementation, patient and carer experiences, and regional evaluations from Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire.
The afternoon included four parallel sessions, allowing attendees to explore specific topics such as; implementation of virtual wards using different models of care, how virtual wards affect workflow and are evaluated, patient experience and staff training in virtual wards. There were also several shorter lightning presentations covering a range of topics. The day concluded with a roundup of the discussions stimulated in the parallel sessions and a forward-looking discussion about the opportunities and challenges in delivering and evaluating H@H services for adults.
Day Two: Expanding Hospital at Home for Children and Young People
On 24th June, attention turned to children and young people (CYP), with ARC Yorkshire and Humber leading a packed programme focused on innovation in paediatric home-based care.
Opening remarks from Dr Sunil Bhopal, Kate Robinson and Dr Will Whittaker set the stage for a keynote from Prof. Steve Turner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who reinforced the principle that “children should be cared for at home” where safe and appropriate. Rebekah Overend of the Royal College of Nursing also highlighted the central role of nurses in this evolving model of care.
The “Bradford Story and Patient Voice” segment offered valuable firsthand insights into family-centred care. It featured Dr Mat Mathai, Consultant Paediatrician and CYP Ambulatory Care Lead at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, along with Tam and her children, who shared their personal experiences with Hospital at Home.
The programme explored new care models and service evaluations through presentations on acute step-up care, paediatric ambulatory chemotherapy, rapid evaluations in the Black Country, and the PATCH project. Speakers highlighted both local innovations and system-wide challenges, particularly around workforce development and service integration.
Breakout sessions in the afternoon addressed workforce planning, enhanced paediatric nursing skills, knowledge mobilisation, and cross-sector collaboration. The day concluded with Dr Bhopal reflecting on the progress made and the collaborative efforts needed to advance equitable and high-quality paediatric care at home.
Voices from the Field: What Attendees Really Think
At the NIHR Hospital at Home & Virtual Wards Conference 2025, we took the talking microphone to over 270 healthcare professionals, researchers, and policy makers from across the UK. Here’s what they had to say about the future of virtual care:
Looking Ahead
ARC-GM and ARC-YH would like to thank all contributors for making the Hospital at Home and Virtual Wards Conference 2025 a success. With strong emerging evidence and cross-regional collaboration, both ARCs are committed to sharing outputs from the event and continuing to drive research and innovation in Hospital at Home.
Over 110 attendees have registered their interest to be involved with a future H@H and Virtual Wards network as a result of this event.
For more information, please contact: YHARC@bthft.nhs.uk
