07.02.18
Welsh NHS to get £100m Transformation Fund aimed at ‘driving forward integration’
The NHS in Wales will benefit from a new £100m fund announced by the national assembly today.
Money from the Transformation Fund will be targeted at making changes to the overall systems of health and care in Wales, rather than focusing on offsetting general pressures, health secretary Vaughan Gething announced.
The decision on how to use new funding was heavily affected by last month’s health and care review, which suggested more needed to be done to improve quality and efficiency between social care and acute services.
As part of its recommendations, the review put forward a number of major changes to the models of care used in Wales to combat a large proportion of the health budget currently allocated to inefficient systems of care.
“The Transformation Fund will be heavily targeted at driving forward those changes to health and social care services that the parliamentary review said were needed,” Gething said.
“The focus will be on using the funding for a small number of programmes that can have the greatest impact in developing and delivering new models of transformed services.
“It will be used to improve population health, drive forward integration of health and care services, focus on building primary care services, provide care closer to home, and provide some support to transforming hospital-based care.”
The news comes on the back of the health secretary’s previous announcement concerning the development of 19 health and care hubs which will centralise services locally across the country.
It is part of a wider move by the National Assembly to improve the integration of health and social care in a country with relatively disparate and spread out population centres.
The initial review was met with praise by doctors, with the BMA Welsh Council welcoming the findings and particularly advocating the strengthening of executive functions in Wales and the development of new infrastructure.
Dr David Bailey, chair of the council, said: “The report has recommended that a captivating vision for the future of health and care in Wales is created – something our members have long called for – so we are pleased Welsh Government has announced that a plan will be published in the spring.”
Top image: Tim Ireland PA Archive
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.