David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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636. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of 100 virtual ward beds. [28733/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The predominant approaches to providing virtual care in Ireland are in line with Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030 and Programme for Government commitments. The Programme for Government commits to promoting greater use of remote health monitoring and virtual care solutions; that will in turn support capacity for scheduled and unscheduled care.

There are two types of virtual wards being pursued by the HSE currently: Acute Virtual Wards and Community Virtual Wards. Eligibility of patients for virtual care is based on established patient care pathways for clinically appropriate conditions, that meet both specific care needs and patient preferences.

• Acute Virtual Wards (AVW) provide a safe and efficient alternative to in-hospital bedded care, enabled by technology. It supports eligible patients, who would otherwise be in hospital, to receive care in their own home monitored by a team of designated nursing staff under the governance of the hospital. Ireland currently has Acute Virtual Wards in two hospitals: St Vincents University Hospital Dublin (SVUH) and University Hospital Limerick (UHL). These pathways facilitate the transfer of eligible patients from the acute hospital setting to their own home where they can continue their care episode.

• The Community Virtual Ward (CVW) Model of Care are hospital avoidance models which offer alternative pathways to hospital-based care for suitable or defined cohorts of patients, thereby reducing hospital admissions and demand on acute hospital capacity. Two sites are currently implementing CVW Models of Care: one in the Integrated Care Programme for Older Persons services (ICPOP) in Cherry Orchard Dublin and the other in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Letterkenny Donegal.

As the costing of these are an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly.