Virtual Wards Minimum Data Set

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 (the Act) gives NHS England statutory powers, under section 259(1)(a), to require data from health or social care bodies, or organisations that provide publicly funded health or adult social care in England, where it has been directed to establish an information system by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. 

The data, as specified by NHS England in this published Data Provision Notice, is required to support a direction from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to NHS England. Therefore, organisations that are in scope of the notice are legally required, under section 259(5) of the Act, to provide the data in the form and manner specified below.

Under section 259(1)(a) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, this Notice is served in accordance with the procedure published as part of the NHS England duty under section 259(8) on the following persons:

• All organisations delivering virtual ward services commissioned by the NHS in England, who have agreed to participate. 

Under section 259(5) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 the organisation types specified above must comply with the Form, Manner and Period requirements below.
Providers could be from:

• foundation or non-foundation trusts
• acute trusts
• mental health trusts
• community healthcare trusts
• care trusts
• social enterprises
• integrated care organisations
• any qualified providers
• independent sector providers (including third sector)
• local authorities

NHS England has been directed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under section 254 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012; to establish and operate a system for the collection and analysis of the information specified for this service. The direction and accompanying requirements specification are published on the NHS England website. 

This information is required by NHS England under section 259(1)(a) of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. 
In line with section 259(5) of the Act, all organisations in scope, in England, must comply with the requirement and provide information to NHS England in the form, manner and period specified in this Data Provision Notice. 

This Notice is issued in accordance with the procedure published as part of an NHS England duty under section 259(8).

The Virtual Wards Minimum Data Set is a daily data collection commencing in 2024. A pilot is expected to continue for a period of up to approximately 2 years, at which point it will transition to a mandatory national collection with no end date.

Data collection via the API will commence in January 2025, with further collection via the local Federated Data Platform tenant introduced soon after with Virtual Wards services which have agreed to take part.

For providers participating in the national impact evaluation of virtual wards, the data collection includes historical patient level data from 2021/22 or, if the virtual ward service was established later, from when it became operational.

NHS England has a statutory obligation to keep collections under review on an ongoing basis. As such, the VWMDS is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure it:

• remains fit for purpose
• maintains alignment with clinical practice and coding
• responds to policy requirements
• matches the NHS Data Model and Dictionary
• is corrected considering errors highlighted by stakeholders.

A new Data Provision Notice may be issued following any amendments to the data set resulting from an annual review.

19 November 2025 Version 2.0: This DPN has been updated to include collection of historical data from providers participating in the national quantitative evaluation of virtual wards