MORE THAN £13 million will be invested in Gwent to transform the way in which health and social care services are delivered.

The money will be used to enhance child and adolescent mental health services, to set up a 24/7 hospital discharge scheme, and to develop 'place-based care', providing a range of services to communities to ease people's reliance on GPs 

The money - £13.4m - has been awarded through the Wales-wide £100m Transformation Fund for health and social care services, set up to support the 10-year A Healthier Wales strategy, launched last summer. A key aim is that fund-backed schemes will eventually be rolled out across Wales.
Health secretary Vaughan Gething formally announced the funding award on a visit to Serennu Children’s Centre at High Cross, Newport.

The money will come through Gwent's Regional Partnership Board, which is driving an integrated approach to health, care and wellbeing, involving Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Gwent's five councils, and the third sector.

Mr Gething and Huw Irranca-Davies, minister for children, older people and social care, were told of the work of the centre, with health and social care services being delivered by the health board and councils in tandem, to support children with complex needs. They also talked to some of the centre's young attenders about their experiences.

The funding will be used to redraw the landscape across child and adolescent mental health services, to deliver improved access to better services, closer to home.

The 24/7 hospital discharge scheme meanwhile, is intended to get patients home faster, with the right package of care in place. 

A trial of the place-based model of care will be run in Caerphilly, to determine the range of services required to help reduce reliance on GPs.

“Health and social care services face increasing demand. To ensure they are fit for the future we must look at new ways to deliver them,” said Mr Gething.

Phil Robson, chairman of the Regional Partnership Board said: “This additional funding will provide much needed resources across Gwent to move our transformation plans forward at substantial pace.

“We are working as a partnership, across health, local government and the third sector, to deliver a very ambitious plan and we are pleased that the Minister has confidence in us as a region to deliver.”