Councils receive grant funding to speed up winter hospital discharge

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Social care teams in Flintshire and Wrexham councils will receive an additional £2.75 million to help support community care and speed up hospital discharge.

The funding – a recurring annual grant – is part of a £30 million Pathway of Care Transformation Grant package announced by the Welsh Government earlier this summer to ease winter pressures on hospitals this year.

Later this week Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) will discuss the details of how local authorities will use the money to increase social care capacity in the community to speed up patient discharge from hospital.

Social care

The funding is designed to strengthen community-based social care and speed up hospital discharges.

Investment will also help fund preventative work, such as multi-disciplinary teams that reduce avoidable hospital admissions and support people to remain independent for longer.

Flintshire will receive £1,473,745, with most money – £554,061 – being allocated to support for care home provision. A further £450,132 will be given over to improving patient assessment and £309,020 paid towards increasing workforce support.

Domiciliary and reablement support – to help people regain independence in their own home following a hospital stay – will receive £160,532.

New roles

Flintshire’s grant will fund 19 new roles – five Social Workers, three Community Assessment Officers, three Occupational Therapists, three Discharge Coordinators plus a Financial Assessment Officer, Business Support Assistant, Care Broker and Planning and Development Officer.

Wrexham will receive no funding for workforce support but will get £972,882 to support reablement and domiciliary care, £255,000 to improve patient assessment and £50,000 to support care home provision after the County Borough received £1,277,882 from the fund.

Local authorities deliver the majority of social care services in Wales, working closely with health boards to ensure safe, timely hospital discharges. However, social care budgets remain under severe strain, with many councils already spending more than they receive to meet urgent needs.

According to the Welsh Government: “The grant should support timely assessment and provide packages of care to ensure people can leave hospital when they are medically fit to do so, helping to reduce the level of delayed hospital discharges.

“The fund can also be utilised to strengthen community-based care services to support people to stay well at home.

“Funding should be directed to where it will provide the best impact.”