Respite services for carers and services to support adults with care needs to remain independent in their own homes will receive a £15m funding boost next year
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Minister made the announcement to mark Carers Rights Day - reaffirming the Welsh Government’s commitment to supporting the 370,000 people in Wales who have a caring responsibility. Carers provide 96% of the care in the communities across Wales, contributing more than £8.1bn to the Welsh economy every year.
The additional £15m funding announced today will help increase joint working between local authorities and health boards to support adults with care needs in their homes, avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions, or ensuring they can return as soon as possible after hospital admission. This will help to reduce delayed transfers of care, freeing up hospital resources.
For carers, it will bolster progress on delivering the three National Priorities for Carers - supporting life alongside caring; identifying and recognising carers; and providing information, advice and support.
The Welsh Government is currently investigating ways to improve the quality and appropriateness of respite support for carers, including the types and frequency of respite and other support across Wales. Additional funding will enable public and third sector organisations to make progress on this agenda.
The funding will be allocated to regional partnership boards.
Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care, Huw Irranca-Davies said:
“I’m pleased to be able to announce an additional £15m investment in preventative services that support adults with care needs. In particular, this investment will help develop services that support adults who need support to remain independent in their own homes, which will help keep people out of hospital.
“To mark Carers Rights Day, I also want to say thank you to the huge number of unpaid carers across Wales. Their selfless contribution makes an incredibly invaluable difference to those they care for, their families, and the wider community.
“To support them, I’m pleased to confirm that we’ll be investing part of the £15m to improve support for carers – in particular, respite services, so that carers are able to take a break, supporting them as carers and in their life alongside caring.”
The funding is part of an additional £30m which has been allocated to Regional Partnership Boards to help strengthen integrated working, announced in the Draft Budget 2019-20 by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Mark Drakeford.
A Healthier Wales: Our Plan for Health and Social Care makes clear that regional partnership boards will be the bodies responsible for developing new models of seamless health and social care.
This funding is in addition to the £100m Transformation funding over two years, which has been made available to support the introduction of new models of care to deliver the objectives of the plan.