- 30/04/2015
- Posted by: Mike Hedges MS
- Category: Press Releases
NEW £20M A YEAR FUND TO HELP KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF HOSPITAL AND IN THEIR OWN HOME
A new, £20m-a-year fund from the Welsh Labour Government will support people in their own homes and local communities, reducing pressure on hospitals, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford has announced.
Mike said ‘This investment will make a great difference to people in the Western Bay area, and Swansea East in particular. I have met many families who have had a loved one in hospital when they would rather be cared for at home; this fund will make this process easier. I am aware how much older people prefer to live at home and this money will increase the options open to older people feel and make older people feel much more positive when faced with ill health in later life.’
The Welsh Government will invest a further £17.5m in the Intermediate Care Fund this year to continue projects which have proven to be successful in helping older and vulnerable people remain in their own homes. The fund will support schemes which improve out-of-hospital care and helping people to return home from hospital.
This helps reduce pressure on unscheduled care services and hospital admissions and adds vital new resources to care in the community. The remaining £2.5m in the Intermediate Care Fund will be used to identify those areas of good practice within the regional partnerships and ensure they are spread across Wales.
The new funding builds on the £35m which was invested in 2014-15 in schemes to enhance integrated working by health and social care services and will continue the focus on improved outcomes for older people and help address the pressures on unscheduled care.
The regional allocations are:
• Western Bay – £3.46m
The new £20m funding is recurrent and is revenue only.
The £20m for the Intermediate Care Fund is part of the additional £70m investment the Welsh Government is making in the Welsh NHS in 2015-16 to develop local health services, integrating health and social care.
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