Implementing and Establishing Virtual Wards

Alison Porter is Associate Professor of Health Services Research at Swansea University, and a member of PRIME Centre Wales, the research network on primary and emergency healthcare. 

She has over twenty years’ experience of delivering engaged, applied research aimed at meeting the current challenges facing health and social care systems. She was part of the team which conducted the PRISMATIC evaluation of risk prediction in primary care, which showed surprising increases in admissions and costs associated with an initiative designed to support case management in the community. More recent work has examined how paramedics are contributing to the primary care workforce to provide sustainable pro-active care. 

Prior to Swansea University, she was based at the Nuffield Trust.

Dr Binita Kane is a Consultant Respiratory Physician at Manchester University Foundation Trust (MFT). She has an interest in airways disease, quality improvement (QI) and digital innovation. She is currently the Respiratory lead for Health Innovation Manchester, Integrated Respiratory Care, Same Day Emergency Care and is an Associate Medical Director at the Manchester Local Care Organisation. She is involved in a number of national programmes including; the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) QI Faculty, the RCP National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme (NACAP) Board. She is also the Co-Founder of 'South Asian Heritage Month', established in 2020 and has a keen interest in inclusion and diversity. Dr Kane set up the first step-down virtual ward in the UK and has chaired the Manchester City-wide Virtual Ward steering group through the pandemic. She is on the Greater Manchester Programme Board for Virtual Wards.