Mr. Fran Thompson:

I can do the technology side of it and Damien can do the operational side. We are trying to give people a choice. Many people have to come to hospital because they are being monitored for COPD, blood pressure or whatever. They could be monitored at home and use technology like Teams, which people are on at this meeting, to have a consultation with the hospital. The virtual ward will be staffed with nurses and doctors. It allows people, at their choice, to stay at home and have that consultation. We have done some consultations virtually; we made much more use of them in the pandemic than now. It means people can be monitored safely, securely and clinically at home. The most important thing is this is not a technology programme; it is being clinically led by Colm Henry’s team, who are saying "Here's the protocols, here's the procedure", and we utilise technology to enable that to happen.