Like a hospital ward, the capacity of the ward is set – usually between 0.5% and 1% of the number of patients grouped together. Also, like a hospital ward, patients are admitted and discharged from those beds. The ward is termed virtual as these beds are not real, and care takes place in the most appropriate setting for the patient, usually at home. Initially, the patients at highest risk of admission to hospital are considered for admission to the ward and for intensive case management. When one of these "beds" becomes vacant as the patient stabilises then the predictive algorithm is looked to for a replacement.
