Our Respiratory@Home service monitors clinically vulnerable patients with Covid and those with wider Respiratory exacerbations, enabling patients to stay at home with clinical support. Our team also prescribes oral anti-viral medications on behalf of Coventry & Warwickshire practices where required.
Referral criteria
This service is for adults (18 years and over) with confirmed or suspected acute respiratory illness, including COVID, who are stable or improving but require ongoing monitoring that can be safely provided in their home or usual place of residence. This includes:
- Flu
- RSV
- COVID – Some pharmacies offer free lateral flow tests to vulnerable patients. View participating pharmacies on the NHS website.
- COPD Exacerbation
- Asthma Exacerbation
The virtual ward provides an alternative to hospital admission and safe hospital discharge support for patients registered at GP practices across Coventry & Warwickshire who require ongoing monitoring to manage their conditions.
Accessing the service
Referrals are accepted from the following: GPs, Self-Referrals, Emergency Departments, Ambulance/Maternity services, 111 and hospital respiratory wards.
Referral forms for clinicians can be found on GP Gateway.
Self-referral: Covid-positive and/or clinically vulnerable patients can self- refer to this service via selfreferral.happyhealthylives.uk. If you meet the criteria shown on the referral site, you will be taken through the next steps to complete your self-referral.
Upon receipt of referral, we contact patients and to accept and familiarise them with the service. Soon after, they receive a pulse oximeter and an information pack in the post that shows them how to collect their oxygen recordings so our team of care coordinators and GPs can monitor and support them.
The information pack includes links to information in different languages.
