An initiative to help reduce the time people spend in hospital in Cwm Taf and a project to create efficient digital patient health records in North Wales are among projects awarded over £17.8m from the Welsh Government’s Invest-to-Save Fund, Finance Minister Jane Hutt announced today.
The Minister made the announcement during a joint visit to the Mental Health Unit at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant with the Health Minister, Mark Drakeford, who learnt how £500,000 of funding will be used to establish a consultant-led Psychiatric Liaison Service for older people with mental health needs.
Ministers also heard about Cwm Taf’s new Acute Assessment Service that will cover all unscheduled care activity between 9am and 6pm. The new services will ensure patients are assessed more rapidly when arriving at the hospital; shorten patient’s length of stay, reduce A&E waiting times and improve patient experience. The initiatives are forecasting savings of some £3m by 2018.
The latest Invest-to-Save funding package supports 19 innovative projects that will help transform service delivery and are set to deliver many improvements to Wales’ public services and lead to recurrent savings of some £21m. The package includes investments totalling £9.8m for twelve projects from NHS Wales and CAFCASS (Wales), £3.3m for four projects from local government and the fire and rescue service and £4.7m for projects from Natural Resources Wales, SportWales and the National Library of Wales.
Since 2009, over 68 projects have received investment from the Invest-to-Save Fund with a joint value of some £77m. These projects are forecasting total annual savings of some £104million within 5 years of commencing, with further recurrent savings thereafter.
Finance Minister, Jane Hutt said:
“Given the continued pressures on public finances, making the maximum use of available resources has never been so great for those delivering public services in Wales. Through Invest-to-Save, we are providing short-term funding to enable transformational change to happen in public services that will lead to long-term benefits.”
Health Minister, Mark Drakeford added:
“Invest-to-Save funding is helping Cwm Taf to implement key elements of its three-year plan while improving the care and experience of patients who come to hospital in an emergency.
“These initiatives, and others being funded by the Welsh Government, have the potential to make a difference across the whole of the NHS in Wales.”
