Welsh NHS braced for ‘one Of the hardest periods ever’ in winter

THE dual challenge of coronavirus and other respiratory viruses will make this winter “one of the hardest we have ever faced”, the chief executive of the Welsh NHS has warned.

But Dr Andrew Goodall has reassured the public that the winter plan for the NHS, which was unveiled by the Welsh Government today, will allow essential services to keep running during this period.

As part of the plan, the Welsh Government has announced an extra £40m for social care to help ease the pressure on hospital beds. This comes on top of £248m already announced for the NHS Covid recovery fund. The social care investment aims to improve hospital patient discharges, expand community services and reduce hospital readmissions among the frail and vulnerable in an effort to ease pressures on bed capacity.

In addition, Dr Goodall said the NHS Wales winter plan will help ensure emergency care is able to cope and minimise disruption to planned care.

Key priorities in the winter plan include:

protecting people from Covid-19 through the vaccination programme;

keeping people well during higher levels of influenza and seasonal respiratory viruses;

maintaining the resilience of health and social care services;

responding to the mental health impact of the pandemic;

ensuring vulnerable groups have access to the treatment they require;

supporting the health and wellbeing of staff who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic; and

working with health and social care organisations to manage pressures across the system.

Dr Goodall said: “We know this winter will be one of the hardest periods we have ever faced, as we face the twin challenges of the pandemic and respiratory viruses,

but our winter plan will ensure essential services keep running

“Our services need to be agile and able to respond to those who need hospital care when their condition worsens, as well as providing support as close to home as possible to reduce their need to attend hospital to receive care.”

The Welsh Government said services like non-urgent patient transport will receive funding in an attempt to ease pressure on frontline ambulance services and ensure patients can access the care they need.

Other investments across Wales include:

£14.4m for planned care for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board;

£8.2m for endoscopy at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board;

£2.5m for diagnostics endoscopy and £1.4m for diagnostics radiology at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board;

£2.9m for ophthalmology at Hywel Dda University Health Board; and

£1.3m for radiology and £2m for endoscopy at Swansea Bay University Health Board.

To support patients with urgent clinical needs, the Welsh Government said central recovery funds for cancer, ophthalmology and dermatology have also been established.

A further £25m is being invested in supporting the transformation of urgent and emergency care services to “deliver the right care in the right place, first time”.

The £40m social care funding will be broken down in the following ways:

more than £9m will go towards providing home adaptations and integrated packages of support in a person’s own home in an effort to speed up rapid discharge schemes;

it is hoped this will create additional bedded community capacity to allow people with more complex needs to recover in the community as a phased return to home from hospital.

It is estimated there are currently around 1,200 people who cannot be discharged from hospitals due to insufficient care capacity;

in recognition of the work of unpaid carers who have experienced reduced support during the pandemic, more than £5m will go towards direct payments, allowing them to have a break to prevent carer breakdown and reduce future demand on services; and

more than £300,000 will also go towards advertising and promotion work to drive recruitment into the social care sector.