Welsh Gov announce £60m funding to better integrate health and social care services

£60m is to be invested over the next year to ensure children, adults and older people in Wales receive joined up health and social care services, the Welsh Government has announced.

£50m revenue funding will be provided by the Welsh Government’s intermediate care fund in 2016-17 to improve care coordination between social services, health, housing, education and the third and independent sector through innovating and enhancing schemes which:

•     support frail and older people
•     develop integrated services for people with learning disabilities and children with complex needs, and
•     develop an integrated autism service, focussing on a multidisciplinary team to support autism in adults and enhancing existing children’s neurodevelopmental services.

£30m of this money will be invested in services to support older people to maintain their independence and remain in their own homes. Examples include preventative and reablement solutions, single points of access, housing and telecare improvements, rapid response teams, and seven-day social work support.

The remaining £20m will help establish new integrated services for children and adults with autism, learning disabilities and complex needs. These will be aimed at transforming the way in which care and support is delivered to people with a learning disability and/or autism and ensuring that they get fair and equal access to good quality health and social care.  

An additional investment of £10m in capital funding will complement the £50m revenue funding. It will assist all of these groups, particularly those with long-term health conditions and complex needs.  It will, for example, support recovery and recuperation by increasing the provision of reablement services or step down/convalescence beds in the community setting. It will also enable local authorities and housing associations to develop more solutions to people’s accommodation needs in partnership with the NHS and Social Services.

The investments will help avoid unnecessary hospital admissions, or inappropriate admission to residential care, as well as preventing delayed discharges from hospital.

Details of specific projects will be announced in due course.

Health and Social Services Minister, Mark Drakeford said: “Until now, the focus of the intermediate care fund has been on supporting older people to remain independent, enabling them to stay in their own homes for longer – relieving pressure on our hospital-based services and care homes.

“We are increasing our investment to £30m to support them in 2016-17. I’m also pleased we are able to make a substantial multi-million pound investment in new integrated services to support children and adults with learning disabilities and complex needs.

“Our approach will ensure people receive the right service, in the right place, at the right time, delivered by the right professional.”

Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister, Lesley Griffiths said: “I am pleased to provide £10m to boost partnership working between health and housing to support older people, as well as children and adults with complex needs.

“This funding will greatly improve many people’s quality of life, helping them to live as independently as possible in their own homes. Our continued investment in the Intermediate Care Fund has been hugely successful, leaving a legacy of innovative local projects. I am confident this new funding will do the same.”