Written question WQ98133
- Asked by
- Janet Finch-SaundersConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 3 days
Question
Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on how they are supporting A&E departments in North Wales during the winter months?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board must urgently improve access to timely emergency care for people in North Wales. The Welsh Government continues to provide support to the health board, through the special measures intervention, to make sustainable improvements to its services, including emergency care, for people in North Wales.
This includes:
• Additional funding this year to support care in the community and expand same day emergency care, reducing pressure on emergency departments. Same day emergency care now treats around 1,600 patients each month, with more than 85% discharged without needing hospital admission.
• Expert support, including additional senior expertise and strengthened input from NHS Performance and Improvement, to work alongside the health board’s senior executive team to improve services and performance.
• £35.5m for the wider North Wales region to help manage more people safely in the community, avoid unnecessary hospital conveyance, and strengthen integrated working with social care.
Two discharge winter sprint fortnights took place across Wales, including in the three North Wales acute hospitals, in December and January. Supported by NHS Performance and Improvement, these brought together health boards, local authorities and the Welsh Ambulance Service. They have helped improve flow through the hospitals and embed sustainable actions to support emergency departments and ambulance handovers.