Health and social care transformation plan across Swansea Bay gets £4.6 million boost

MOVES to transform health and social care across the Swansea Bay area have been given a £4.6 million boost.
Western Bay is a partnership between Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board and Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend councils.

Its role is to consider the potential for increased joint working in the area.

Now it has been awarded £4.6 million over three years from the Welsh Government’s Regional Collaboration Fund to look at developing joint health and social care services.

Neath Port Talbot Council chief executive Steve Phillips will present a report to the authority’s cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday.

“The primary aim of the Western Bay Health and Social Care Programme is to develop service models and organisations to become resilient and sustainable whilst demonstrating improvements across the region,” he said.

Mr Phillips said progress was continuing on the potential for regional arrangements for specific service areas.

These were adult learning disability, adult mental health, older people, children’s services and commissioning and contracting.

“The Integrated Family Support Service which was included in the first phase of the programme is fully operational,” he added.

The Western Bay programme is now looking at a series of projects to meet its stated aims.

Community services for older people, for example, would be moved from the traditional, institutionalised models of care to those that are more community-based, allowing people in many cases to live at home.

Another involves options for buying services from independent, private and third sector organisations on a regional, local and South Wales basis.

The partnership believes this will maximise scale, quality and cost.

A regional approach to improving services for children with complex needs and permanency through adoption is also being looked at.

Swansea Council is acting as the lead authority on the programme.

Mr Phillips said: “Progress has been and is being made in analysing the case for greater collaboration across the Western Bay region.

“Delivering major change is time consuming.

“However, it provides an opportunity to do things differently and more efficiently, whilst meeting the demographic and financial changes currently experienced and anticipated in the future.”