A VIRTUAL nursing service for terminally ill patients at home has been saved.

St Helena Hospice has been piloting a new service caring for patients at home at the end of their lives.

The Virtual Ward service offers personal care to those whose health has suddenly deteriorated.

The aim is to keep people at home if that is where they want to be.

Between January and September, 165 referrals were received.

The virtual ward, which acts as a rapid response 24/7 service alongside St Helena’s SinglePoint service, was initially funded by the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group.

Following the success of the service’s pilot, the hospice has secured additional funding from the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance to run the service until March.

The hospice will then use its charitable funds to support the service with the hope to secure further funding in the future.

Frances Rowe, SinglePoint team lead, said: “The virtual ward has changed what we can do in SinglePoint as we offer two visits a day to patients with personal care needs. Our healthcare assistants can help with all hygiene needs and we can supplement visits with clinical support if someone is running into difficulty between visits.

“They are an experienced team and as well as looking after the patient, they also support families and friends too.

“This service allows us to offer our patients in the community the care they would get on the inpatient unit.”

Christine McDonald benefitted from the service when her husband Matthew, 75, came to the end of his life.

He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure.

Christine, 66, from New Town, Colchester, said: “Over the past five or six years he got worse.

“The virtual team stepped in over the last four days.

“He had been in the hospice in June for a medical review and they had always kept in touch.

“They gave me the SinglePoint number and the team was amazing.”

Matthew had been in hospital the week before he died and was sent home.

Christine said: “The healthcare assistants came twice a day and they would wash and change the bedding, change him, they would sit with us and make us a cup of tea.

“In between those times the nurse practitioners would come two or three times a day to give medication.

“They come in and take away that worry about the medical side and they let me just be a wife again.”