FOUR million pound is being invested to improve patient care and access to health services in communities throughout Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Money will be allocated to improve services in a variety of community settings including expansion of community nursing and the introduction of wellbeing coordinators to help signpost people to relevant services.

It will also be used provide additional access to pharmacy advice to manage patient medications and repeat prescriptions in GP practices and in patients own homes.

Specific funding has been set aside to meet the health needs of newly arrived asylum seekers in Wales.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is using the Welsh Government funding to recruit extra staff to deliver the improvements.

Sue Morgan, deputy director of Primary, Community and Mental Health at Cardiff and Vale UHB, said: “With increasing pressures on primary and community care services across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, this funding will enable us to target areas that require additional capacity so we can continue to deliver a local health service that is reflective of the needs of the community.”

The additional investment will enable the health board to focus on expanding the community infrastructure to deliver more care in the community.

Expansion of the current Community Resource Team model will also be included. The three existing teams in Cardiff and Vale have enabled the delivery of a reablement service that supports earlier discharge from hospital and avoids admissions from the community. However, the demand for this service is greater than its capacity so investment in these teams will improve access to the service and support a greater number of patients in their own homes.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB) has received funding from the Welsh Government to be invested in primary care services in 2015 – 2016. The additional funding was announced by the Minister for Health and Social Services Mark Drakeford at the South East Community Resource Centre in Cardiff.

Welsh Government has provided the funding to make a tangible difference to the primary care services offered in the community, ensuring better access for patients in line with the needs of the population.

Mark Drakeford said: “This significant new package of funding will support a wide range of schemes to make it easier for people to get the right care, at the right time, closer to where they live. It will also help to relieve pressures on GPs by widening access to a broad range of highly-skilled primary care professionals.

“By managing people’s often complex conditions in primary care, we will not just be keeping people out of hospital but we will be treating them closer to their homes and their families.

“Primary care services are those services which are most frequently used by people; which we are most familiar with and we use most frequently. To protect and improve primary care, we are investing in these services; we are shifting the focus away from ill health and hospitals to improve health and care as close to home as possible.”

After the visit, the Minister said of the Community Resource Team ‘the benefits of the strong multi disciplinary work which you undertake to maximise individual’s independence after hospital admission is evident’.

Recruitment to enhance these services has commenced with the pharmacy initiative. A successful open evening was held on July 8, 2015, and there will be a number of open days for the other initiatives over the coming weeks for those interested in joining the primary care team.