With regard to the recent announcement of £35m for winter pressure, how will the Cabinet Secretary ensure that this funding is used to support preventative services, such as those in primary care, outlining any details of initiatives or schemes that will receive funding as a result of this investment?
The £35m package to support NHS and social care partners over the winter, includes:
- £5m announced on 17 October to help relieve pressure on critical care units;
- £10m announced on 22 October to support sustainable social services; and
- A further £20m announced on 25 October to support delivery of integrated winter delivery plans.
As I stated in my response to WAQ77319, £16m of the £20m package will be allocated directly to Local Health Boards to support delivery of actions featured in their integrated winter delivery plans.
These plans have been developed in line with five key delivery priorities to increase focus on management of patients with urgent care needs in the community, make sure there is clinically-focused hospital management to manage risk and peaks in demand and to ensure people are able to return home from hospital when they are ready.
Local plans include additional focus on providing telephony advice to people with urgent care needs; increasing access to services in the community over evenings and weekends; working with the Welsh Ambulance Service to roll out the IStumble methodology to help care homes support residents who have fallen and reduce avoidable conveyances to hospital via ambulance response; and collaborative working with the third sector to support people to leave hospital when they are ready. The partnership with the third sector will also enable people to be connected to relevant local community services once they have been resettled at home.
The remaining £4m is intended to fund nationally agreed priorities for the winter period including:
- Two pilots to extend GP out of hours access into evenings and weekends, as well as bank holidays to help people access care closer to home;
- Provision of lifting ‘inflatable’ equipment products for use in care homes across Wales, as well as a training package for staff, to support people who have fallen;
- A collaborative falls response project involving the Welsh Ambulance Service and St John Cymru Wales, to respond to people who have fallen, but are uninjured or have minor injuries, along the M4 corridor
- Increasing the number of paramedics and nurses in the ambulance clinical contact centres to provide advice over the phone and help prevent unnecessary journeys to hospital;
- Introduction of the ‘My COPD Nurse’ app to support ongoing treatment, identification and self-management of symptom exacerbations of COPD.
We have also agreed to fund an initiative to recruit a number of additional Advanced Paramedic Practitioners to support patients with chronic conditions and older frail people who may be able to be treated at home without conveyance to hospital, as well as supporting primary and community care services.