wards. Some patients with COVID-19 were arriving at hospital too late as they were not aware that they had very low blood oxygen levels. There were both pre-hospital models, in which patients were referred via community routes and post-hospital in which they were discharged quickly to their homes, where they could be monitored remotely by their clinical teams using remote patient monitoring and in particular using pulse oximeters. Programmes of accelerated discharge freed up hospital beds for an expected surge of seriously ill patients. Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust launched a COVID patient remote ward in 2021 using software from Dutch digital health specialist, Luscii. Patients enter oximeter daily readings into an app which analyses the readings, monitoring for any sign of measurement abnormalities which could mean medical attention is required. This led to expansion into other clinical areas. University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust established a virtual ward in 2022 for 100 heart patients undergoing ablation therapy to treat atrial fibrillation. This allows remote monitoring of electrocardiogram, selected vital signs, and symptomatic data before and after surgery. In June 2022 the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust announced plans to set up a 500-bed virtual ward using Dignio technology for patients with a variety of different conditions. Patients will use the MyDignio App to record their vital signs. References External links Croydon PCT (Virtual Wards webpages) NHS Networks (Virtual Wards Microsite) King's Fund (King's Fund Predictive Modelling Project) NHS Dudley (Website for NHS Dudley'') Community nursing