£30m investment in community care aiming to reduce pressure on hospitals

Millions of pounds is set to be invested in community care services across Wales in a bid to reduce pressure on hospitals.

It comes after the health service experienced some of the highest demand on record over the winter.

With an aging population it is estimated that in less than 20 years there will be nearly 150,000 more people aged 75 or older in Wales and there is a projected increase of 61.3 per cent in the Welsh population who are 85 and over.

In a bid to meet the current and expected demand on the health service, the Welsh Government has announced that up to £30m will now be invested into delivering more care at home or in the community and reduce the time people spend in hospitals.

The new investment will improve people’s chances of living at home independently, increase use of technology and redeploy staff and resources to ensure people living with frailty are supported to live at home.

Where a hospital stay is needed, stronger community services will enable that stay to be as short as possible by enabling people to recover safely and comfortably at home.

The investment will also reduce pressure on hospital beds by preventing hospital admissions through early intervention.

The investment of up to £30m will help to:

• Deliver thousands of extra hours of re-ablement services across Wales – providing as a safe alternative to hospital admission and to keep people at home, or so people can recover at home more quickly after a stay in hospital;
• Recruit more community workers to advise people on how they can access the right support and services to help them recover and lead independent lives
• Ensure every local authority has a Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Responder Service by winter 2024. Currently only 10 local authorities have this facility. Using the latest monitoring technology this service will ensure people can get the help they need as quickly as possible,
• Move towards 24/7 Community nursing by increasing the availability of community nurses across Wales for an extra 10 hours a day on Saturday and Sundays;
• Strengthen community specialist palliative care – by making specialist nurses available overnight.
• Practical support for local services to collaborate to put in place an individual care plan for those people identified as most at risk for urgent care. This will help to reduce hospital admissions.

Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan, said: “Older people contribute hugely to Welsh society and they tell us what matters to them is fairly simple – if they need care and support, they want to be cared for in familiar surroundings with familiar people and do not want to go to hospital unless this is really necessary.

“Research has also shown that people recover better in the comfort of their own home rather than in hospital, where they are less likely to become de-conditioned and less likely to pick up infections. We must focus on transforming the way we provide care to enable this.

“We need to move the focus from treating short term episodes of ill-health to meeting the needs of more frail and elderly people with multiple health conditions.

“I have told health boards that addressing the issue of delayed transfers of care needs to be their number one priority. Because without improving the flow through hospitals almost all other aspects of health care, including waiting lists, will be impacted. This additional funding should help them with that challenge.”

Later this year the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan, will be setting out a long-term vision for strengthening social care.

Julie Morgan said: “I want to see consistency across Wales in the standards of care frail people can expect to get in their community, leading eventually to a community care service for Wales.

“I was impressed and encouraged by what was achieved by local authorities and health boards this winter in securing 670 extra community beds across Wales. But now we need to go further, faster to make sure more people can get the care and support they need at home or in their community and spend less time in hospitals.”

Eluned Morgan added: “This will not only benefit people and improve outcomes but also improve the flow through our health care system.

“This isn’t about the workforce working harder – our amazing health and care staff are already doing everything they can – this is about how decision makers must reshape services so they are fit for the future.”

“However, there is no escaping the enormous pressure on the health and social care system currently. Councils have long made the case that we must think differently about health and wellbeing and to strive to prevent people from becoming ill in the first place.

“By working in partnership at a local level, including social services, GPs and community-based health services, as well as providers in the private and third sectors, we can help to improve our residents’ prospects.

“It is essential that we take this chance to consider how resources and capacity can be used as efficiently and effectively as possible, and to examine what can be done differently across the system to improve the health and wellbeing of people in communities all over Wales.”