NEW and enhanced home care packages help coronavirus patients in Wales return home from hospital to cotninue their recovery, will be funded through a £10 million programme announced by the Welsh Government.

The money is being provided to health and social care organisations to help get patients in recovery from the disease home more quickly.

It will also help fund crucial community services supporting the response to coronavirus, and that are helping people to stay at home safely. The funding will help provide for:

  • The expansion of discharge from hospital schemes;
  • Extra capacity in the community to care for people discharged form hospital;
  • Maximising patients’ independence after coronavirus, including the purchasing of equipment for their home;
  • Enhanced community-based services to reduce pressure on primary and secondary care.

The aim is to limit unnecessary time for recovering patients in hospitals and to help prevent readmissions and new admissions, especially crucial at a time of far higher pressure on hospitals.

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The £10m is being made available through Regional Partnership Boards that bring together health boards, councils, and the charitable and voluntary sectors. It is intended to help build upon or extend already established models of integrated care.

It is also in addition to the £40m announced earlier this month that is available to councils to meet extra costs for adult social care providers.

“Our health and social care services and organisations are absolutely key in getting those who have recovered from Covid-19 back to where they should be - home," said health and social services minister Vaughan Gething.

"This funding will ensure that when they leave hospital, they are fully supported in a way which is right for individual needs. This is paramount.

“Across Wales there has been a clear and integrated collaborative approach; from point of admission, to enhancing community capacity, to optimising flow to free-up essential hospital capacity. The funding will ensure this continues as Covid-19 patients continue to recover and are released from hospital."