£10m to improve NHS care for major health conditions

A £10m investment to improve NHS services for major health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke has been announced by Deputy Health Minister Vaughan Gething.

The investment by the Welsh Government will also improve liver, critical care, neurological, respiratory, end-of-life care and mental health services across Wales.

Each condition has its own delivery plan, which has been put together by clinicians, patients and advocates for excellent care. They outline the actions which will be taken to improve patient outcomes and experience.

£1m will be invested in the cancer delivery plan to support projects to improve outcomes for people with lung cancer, including improving public awareness of the disease and a programme of “pre-habilitation” to get people ready for surgery, helping to maximise the benefits of their treatment. New cancer pathways will also be developed, improving the way services are monitored and further patient experience surveys will be undertaken.

The £1m for diabetes will go towards improving self management of the condition through structured education programmes. Funding will also be used to drive up care standards and recruit new staff to support the transition between child and adult services and in clinical podiatry because good foot care is essential for people with diabetes. The diabetes implementation group will also invest in community diabetes specialist nurses.

Other investments include:

• The respiratory implementation group, which supports the respiratory delivery plan, will be investing £1m to reduce variation in prescribing; to increase expertise in the use of spirometry, and to ensure everyone newly-diagnosed with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a written self-management care plan to help them manage their condition successfully;
• The £1m for end-of-life care will be focused on hospices at home. Although well-developed in some areas of Wales, the service is not consistently available across the country. The funding will ensure there is a greater level of clinical support in the community to help people die in their preferred place of choice;
• £1.2m of the £2m for neurological and stroke care will be invested in neuro-rehabilitation services, helping to maximise people’s independence;
• The £1m allocated to the mental health delivery plan will form part of a £3m package to improve access to evidence based psychological therapies and talking treatments for adults, children and young people, as previously announced by Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford.

Vaughan Gething said:

“I’m pleased to announce this £10m investment for major health conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

“These plans are making a real difference for people in Wales. More people are surviving cancer than ever before, despite significant increases in incidence – 96% of people with cancer rate their care as excellent, very good or good.

“We are making similar progress with our other delivery plans – survival from heart disease and stroke has improved; the number of people dying from stroke has fallen by 1,000 a year and the number of emergency admissions for stroke, heart disease and diabetes is also falling, demonstrating better management of the conditions in the community.

“While we have seen good progress to date and while our NHS already continues to deliver excellent healthcare, I want the health service to use this funding to maintain focus on these key plans and deliver even more improvements in patient care and outcomes.”