How Graphnet’s Remote Monitoring System Helped Treat 1,200 Heart Failure Patients at Home

At a Glance

•  Client: Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Technology: Graphnet Remote Monitoring
• Location: Liverpool & Merseyside
• Key result: An HSJ Patient Safety Award winning virtual ward, treating more than 1,200 patients since the service launched in May 2022.

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LUHFT) and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust established the North West’s first acute heart failure virtual ward in May 2022.

Using the Graphnet Remote Monitoring technology, the service enables patients to receive specialist care in the comfort of their own home, helping avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.

With new guidance from NHS England, supporting the implementation of virtual wards as an additional, complementary service model for people with heart failure, the work at LUHFT is pioneering.

The Challenge

With more than 900,000 people in the UK living with heart failure and the condition accounting for 5% of hospital admissions, LUHFT wanted to find a way to care for more patients at home rather than admitting them to hospital.

Led by Dr Rajiv Sankaranarayanan, Consultant Cardiologist, the team needed a way to monitor patients with acute heart failure closely while ensuring they could access specialist assessment and treatment when required.

The Solution

Dr Sankaranarayanan and the LUHFT team partnered with Mersey Care’s Telehealth Service and Graphnet to establish an acute heart failure virtual ward, combining remote monitoring technology with specialist clinical support.

Using the remote monitoring system, patients can record their observations and symptoms at home, allowing clinicians to identify potential deterioration and intervene when necessary.

How Does the Heart Failure Virtual Ward Work?

• Home assessment and treatment: Heart failure specialist nurses visit patients to assess their condition and administer intravenous diuretics where needed.
• Daily remote monitoring: Patients record observations including temperature, blood pressure, oxygen levels, step count and ECG readings, alongside a daily symptom questionnaire.
• Clinical oversight: Patient information is automatically presented to nurses at Mersey Care’s telehealth hub, where readings are reviewed and anomalies flagged.
• Timely intervention: Nurses triage alerts and contact patients when needed, with heart failure specialists reviewing observations and deciding on appropriate care.
• Ongoing support: The service can arrange same-day home visits, electronic prescribing, specialist pharmacist input and home cardiac rehabilitation.

This approach allows the clinical team to monitor patients remotely while providing hands-on care when required.

Dr Sankaranarayanan said:

“It’s a great honour to lead this project… It’s great to be able to monitor people in their own homes by heart failure specialists through the aid of remote monitoring digital technology, thus avoiding the need for hospitalisation.

Health care professionals can refer patients into the service from A&E departments, primary care, outpatient clinics, heart failure ambulatory care units, acute medical units and hospital wards at LUHFT (Aintree Hospital, Royal Liverpool) and we have also received referrals from Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.”

The Results

“It gives you your life back.” – Colette, patient of the award-winning virtual heart failure ward.

Since launching in May 2022, the virtual ward has:

• Treated more than 1,200 patients across Cheshire and Merseyside
• Helped to avoid hospital admissions where they are not necessary
• Helped to reduce the length of hospital stays
• Enabled patients to receive specialist monitoring and treatment in the comfort of their own homes
• Received an HSJ Patient Safety Award

LUHFT and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust’s virtual ward provides an example of how NHS organisations can work together to deliver care for people with heart failure outside of the hospital environment.

Peter Almond, Telehealth Head of Service, Community Care Division at Mersey Care, said:

“Coupling the Telehealth clinical hub and digital technology to support this pathway has really benefitted patient care by helping to avoid admissions where they aren’t necessary and supporting the patient to recovery in the comfort of their own home.”

Find out how Graphnet’s remote monitoring technology can support virtual wards, help clinicians monitor patients outside hospital and deliver more care closer to home.