James Benson, CEO of Central London Community Healthcare Trust and NHS England National Delivery Advisor, discusses community care revolution on Newcross Healthcare’s, Voices of Care podcast. Virtual Wards are set to play a key role in the future of the NHS following the publication of the NHS 10 Year Plan on 3rd July.
 
A leading NHS executive has delivered an inspiring and hope filled message about the future of healthcare: community services are not just ready for the NHS's digital transformation – they're already leading it. James Benson, CEO of Central London Community Healthcare Trust (CLCH) and NHS England National Delivery Advisor for virtual wards, spoke passionately about the sector's achievements on Newcross Healthcare's Voices of Care podcast. 

VIRTUAL WARDS: NATIONAL SUCCESS STORY 
Speaking to host Suhail Mirza, Benson revealed the remarkable scale of virtual ward delivery: "If we look at the 24/25 year, we had over 400,000 people nationally going through a virtual ward." The community healthcare leader emphasised the proven nature of virtual care delivery: "This is not an experiment." 

He outlined the development of the two types of virtual ward provision: “The first of those virtual wards are wards that are on discharge, which is how do we get someone to be discharged safely home” and this can drive efficient use of hospital resources by reducing length of hospital stays by “one or two days.”

Benson outlined however that "the biggest opportunity around virtual wards is the on the prevention of admission" which support “largely people with complex long-term conditions or frailty." These sentiments give weight to the positive vision set out the NHS 10 Year Plan for the shifts from acute to community settings and from an analogue NHS to a digital one with remote monitoring of patients being key.
 
COMMUNITY CARE: HISTORIC NHS FOUNDATION 
Drawing on deep roots of community healthcare, Benson highlighted the sector's expertise and how the shift from acute to community-based healthcare delivery should give all cause for confidence: "We know how to do this. This is new in some way, but it's based upon a proper public health response to improving the life of our residents." 

He referenced the historical significance of community nursing: "Our Queen's nurses. So, our district nurses, our health visitors have been delivering public health nursing for years, since the reign of Queen Victoria." 

WORKFORCE TRANSFORMATION VISION, SOCIETAL CHANGE AND TECHNOLOGY 
Benson provided insight into some of the healthcare workforce development that the shift to community-based care requires asking: "How do we teach new types of skills? That's where I think the big digital step is going." 

He highlighted the broader societal impact and benefit of empowering the NHS workforce in the community with these additional skills to harness the benefits of technology: "If our healthcare workforce are more competent with digital, society is probably more competent with digital as well actually." 

The CEO revealed CLCH's scale, operating across 14 London boroughs and all of Hertfordshire with 105 service lines, seeing "anywhere between 10 and 10 1/2 thousand people a day" across "736 sites." 

THE ROLE OF PLACE AND AN INTEGRATED NEIGHBOURHOOD HEALTH SERVICE 
Benson was also excited to inform Voices of Care  about the new Strategy for the Trust with a deep focus on patients and the role of “place”: “the strategy recognises the importance of place and when we talk about place from a London and Hertfordshire context, we're talking about boroughs or districts and the county.”  

He added that the Trust will develop integrated neighbourhoods based on these geographies and emphasises the broader health and socio-economic priorities this will inform; tackling health inequalities will be top of the agenda and “also boosting the broader mission of economic growth” by asking how the Trust can support people getting back into work.

PATIENT SATISFACTION AND EVIDENCE 
Benson highlighted how the foundation of the Strategy including the work being done with virtual wards places the patient at the centre of the circle. He shared compelling evidence of the impact of virtual wards on patient experience: "We've got evidence of 97,98% of service users valuing virtual wards" and noted that "the vast proportion of our patients enjoy it." He highlighted clinical benefits of home-based care: "There's some really interesting statistics that, a frail, largely older person who goes into hospital will take 30 steps a day in a hospital. If we can support people at home, they won't decondition as much and they're more likely to remain well."

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY and LEADERSHIP  
Benson reaffirmed that whilst the three shifts and in particular the focus on technological driven productivity will be vital the NHS and wider healthcare system is forever people based adding “our workforce is by far our biggest asset.” 

He gave special prominence and acknowledgment to the rich diversity of the workforce at the Trust "58% of the workforce is from the global majority" and added that leadership was ensuring every member of the workforce is valued, engaged and supported to realise their full potential in every role. 

Benson also highlighted the vital role of leadership in the future and delivering the CLCH strategy; this involves looking ahead “we spend quite a lot of time really thinking through, how do we actually support leadership teams develop and understand their operating performance.” He circled back to the patient and the importance of being accountable as a community provider and highlighted the imperative for all leaders (and indeed staff) at the Trust to “move into a space of actually starting to describe more fully to our residents how they can be assured about the care that is being provided.”

The Voices of Care podcast, hosted by Suhail Mirza, continues to provide a platform for sector leaders to address critical issues facing health and social care across the UK. 
 
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Contact: Newcross Healthcare: Priya Patel, Marketing Manager priya.patel@newcrosshealthcare.com 

About the Voice of Care Podcast
The Voices of Care podcast, a Newcross Healthcare production hosted by Suhail Mirza, offers candid conversations with key figures in health and social care. Created to give a platform to those shaping the future of care, the podcast explores the biggest challenges facing the sector while spotlighting inspiring stories of innovation and leadership. 

About Newcross Healthcare
Newcross Healthcare is one of the UK's leading providers of social and health care services, both within the community and through healthcare staffing. With an extensive network of over 165,000 registered healthcare professionals and nearly three decades of expert experience, Newcross delivers high-quality care solutions that meet the diverse needs of patients and communities. 
For more information, visit www.newcrosshealthcare.com