£100m plan to help health and care recover from Covid

Health Minister Vaughan Gething has today published a plan, supported by an initial £100m funding, to help the health and care system in Wales to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Health and Social Care in Wales COVID 19: Looking Forward looks at the following key aspects of recovery:

• Reducing health inequalities to achieve a fairer Wales
• Building more responsive primary and community care
• Creating supportive mental health services
• More effective and efficient hospital services
• Better working between health and social services
• Supporting and building a resilient workforce
• Providing accessible digital support

Mr Gething said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our health and social care system, patients and staff. As we emerge from the most serious stage of the pandemic, we are now in a position to set out how we can start to recover.

“This plan sets out the broad principles of recovery and more detailed actions will follow. I am making available an initial £100m now to support the first steps, but it is clear more resources will be needed to make a full recovery.

“It will be a long journey, but it is also an opportunity to transform how we deliver health and care services in the future, and to tackle the health inequalities in our society that the pandemic has made even more evident.

“That is why, alongside our recovery plan, I am also pleased to announce our National Clinical Framework, which sets out how we see NHS clinical services developing over the next decade.”

The National Clinical Framework is a commitment made in A Healthier Wales and describes how the strategic development of clinical services can make the NHS fit for the challenges of the 21st century. It responds to key aspects of the Parliamentary Review on the future of health and social care in Wales.

It is underpinned by the introduction of Quality Statements that set out in more detail the standards and outcomes we expect to see from particular clinical services. The first two quality statements are for cancer and heart conditions, and replace the Cancer and Heart Condition Delivery Plans, which came to an end in December.