Secondary care minister tells former health secretary that, while the government wishes to continue to grow capacity of virtual facilities, the previous administration’s population-based target is no longer in play

NHS England has added almost 1,000 virtual-ward beds in the past 12 months, but a minister has indicated that there is not currently an overarching target for the number of beds per 100,000 people.

The previous Conservative administration specified a target of ensuring that there were between 40 and 50 virtual-ward beds per 100,000 people – equating to between 28,000 and 35,000 beds. The original intended timeline for achieving this was March 2024, but this was amended to simply describing the target as a “longer-term ambition”.

While still a long way shy of this figure, the number has risen significantly in recent years – from about 7,000 at the start of 2023 up to 11,856 as of March 2024.

This rate of increase has slowed but, according to secondary care minister Karin Smyth, “progress has continued to be made, with 12,825 virtual ward beds open in March 2025”.

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Smyth was responding to a written parliamentary question from former health secretary Steve Barclay, who asked when the Department of Health and Social Care expects to achieve the previous administration’s capacity target of 40 virtual beds per 100,000 people.

In response, Smyth indicated that, in the near term, there are no such wider targets, and that the expansion of virtual wards is driven at a local level.

“The NHS England 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance asks systems to improve access to urgent care services, including virtual ward, also known as hospital at home, services,” she added. “No national population target has been set centrally for 2025/26 and it is for local systems to take decision on how best to increase capacity and utilisation as part of the range of urgent care services that can be accessed locally.”

The concept of virtual wards is to enable patients to be treated in their own home, rather than in hospital. This can be achieved via the use of technology – such as connected medical devices, monitoring apps, and video consultations – supplemented by face-to-face care provided by healthcare professionals operating in the community.