In a bid to ease pressure on staff and improve patient care, Emergency Departments and Minor Injury Units across Wales will receive a £2.7m cash injection from the Welsh Government.
This comes amid record waiting list figures, with over 600,000 people waiting for NHS treatment in October. On top of the waiting list figures, it was also recently revealed that 25,000 patients have been waiting for more than two years for treatment.
The funding aims to tackle overcrowding and reducing wait times by creating more waiting areas and treatment cubicles. Different health boards across the country have submitted proposals for improvements in specific areas, including accessibility enhancements, better information access for patients, Infection prevention, improved safety and security plus general infrastructure upgrades.
Commenting on the investment, minister for health and social services, Eluned Morgan, said: “We received such positive feedback from both staff and patients following our investments and upgrades for Emergency Departments and Minor Injury units last year.
"We want to continue this to support improving patient and staff care. Our £2.7 million investment should enhance both patients’ and staff experience in waiting rooms, and when accessing or providing care and treatment throughout the departments.”
However, Welsh Conservative shadow minister for health, Russell George warned that it wasn’t enough. He said: “The Labour Government is playing catch up thanks to their historic underfunding of our Welsh NHS. The sum allocated is hardly going to scratch the surface.”
Whilst the funding will help alleviate pressures, Morgan warned that people still needed to be considerate of the winter pressures, adding: "Our Emergency Departments are always open and ready to support those who have life-threatening and emergency conditions.
"But we can all play a role in helping to reduce some pressure on our emergency services, by considering whether we need to go to an Emergency Department, or whether other options, like using the dedicated Minor Injury Units or free NHS 111 Wales service and community pharmacists, might provide quicker treatment options for us.”
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