£11 million to transform health and social care services in north Wales

16 Apr 2019 03:23 PM

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething has announced more than £11 million to transform the way health and social care services are delivered in north Wales.

The money will support 3 different projects to bring health and social care services closer to people’s homes and the new ways of working could eventually be rolled-out across Wales.

Led by the North Wales Regional Partnership Board, the projects are the latest to receive funding from the Welsh Government’s £100 million Transformation Fund. The fund has been created to support the scale up of new models of seamless health and social care as part of the Welsh Government’s long term plan for health and social care, A Healthier Wales. 

The 3 projects are:

• £2.32 million for Mental Health Crisis Care. This project will provide urgent metal health support for those in crisis. This includes placing mental health practitioners with ambulance crews and in police control rooms and developing alternatives to hospital admission such as crisis cafes, safe havens and strengthened home treatment services.
• £6 million for Community Service Transformation. This project will deliver care earlier and closer to people’s homes by developing community networks, working with the third sector to support well being services, promoting inclusion and participation and co ordinating social prescription.
• £3 million for Early intervention and support for children and young people. Through earlier intervention from new multidisciplinary teams, this project aims to reduce the number of children in permanent full time care, reduce time in care and reduction of family breakdowns. This will bring benefits to children and families and reduce the burden on health and social services. 

Mr Gething yesterday said:

As our population gets older our health and social care services will face even greater and more complex demand. To meet that demand and ensure our health and social services are fit for the future, we need to transform the way we deliver health and care, across the whole of Wales.

This will require new ways of working and bringing different services together, for example to deliver services closer to home and reduce pressure on hospitals. A Healthier Wales sets out how can achieve this and our Transformation Fund will help to achieve that vision by funding innovative projects that have potential to scale up and be used across Wales.

Teresa Owen, Chair of the North Wales Regional Partnership Board, yesterday said:

We are delighted to have been given this significant amount of funding to help us modernise the services for residents across North Wales. We have made a firm commitment to stepping up our efforts to provide seamless health and social care services across our region, based on the needs of the people living here.

We all have a common aim to improve services to residents and we have agreed clear priorities to make that happen. In a region like ours, it is essential that we share resources, skills and experiences. This funding will help us further our work with some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and provide intervention and support services that will be key to a healthier north Wales.