£8.8m boost for older people services in Wales
A multi-million pound investment in services to support older people, particularly the frail elderly, to maintain their independence and remain in their home in Mid and West Wales, has been unveiled by the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas.
A range of intermediate care services are being delivered across Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys. To support this, local authorities have received £8.8m from the Welsh Government’s £50m Intermediate Care Fund (ICF) to work with partners from health, housing, and the third and independent sectors.
The ICF has been established to provide improved care and support for older people, at home or in the local community. This fund will help ease pressure on the NHS by preventing unnecessary admissions to hospital and residential care and delayed discharges from hospital.
The investment will fund a range of proposals within the region, including:
- Development of an integrated health and social care workforce to provide rapid response and other services;
- Improving therapy input into ‘reablement’ services;
- Development of integrated ‘twighlight’ services providing responsive transport home from hospital and home-based mobility support to prevent admissions;
- A project led by Care and Repair which will speed up minor adaptations and provide services to help keep people in their homes;
- Further development of supported accommodation, including dementia ‘move-on’ flats in Pembrokeshire, and Extra Care housing;
- Extending and embedding telecare services into Community Resource Teams.
Gwenda Thomas said:“The £8.8m that’s been awarded to over 70 projects across Mid and West Wales will provide an excellent opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of older people.
“The investment will enable health, housing and social services, along with the third and independent sectors, to work together on some very innovative projects to support older people to maintain their independence and remain in their own home.”
The fund formed part of the 2014-15 Welsh budget agreed jointly with Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats.
