£5m Invest to Save Funding will generate £3m of annual savings – Jane Hutt

The successful Invest to Save fund helps public sector organisations deliver improvements to frontline services across Wales and generate cash efficiency savings.

In this round of funding, £280,000 will be provided for the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service to lead a ‘Safe as Houses’ initiative.  The initiative will see a small team, drawn from the health, police, fire and rescue service and local government work collaboratively to target the elderly and vulnerable to minimise health and security risks in their homes.  It is expected to reduce accidents, hospital admissions and crime and is projected to generate annual savings of £765,000 per annum.

Another multi agency project led by Torfaen County Borough Council and Bron Afon Housing Association will receive £465,000.  The preventative project will work with families with complex needs and will generate annual savings of £200,000.

Other projects supported include:

• £281,000 for Hywel Dda University Health Board which will allow the upgrading of all medical infusion pumps (expected savings of £228,000 per annum);
• £278,000 for Powys Teaching Health Board to establish a Children’s Continuing Care Unit (expected savings of £309,000 per annum);
  £1m for Natural Resources Wales to implement improved revenue collection (expected savings of £800,000 per annum);
• £1.4m for Carmarthenshire County Council which will help fund the replacement of 12,000 traditional street lighting with LED units (expected savings of £400,000 per annum);
• £165,000 for the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service which will enable the conversion of every fire station to LED lighting (expected savings of £55,000 per annum);
• £1m for Cardiff University to fund a range of energy efficiency projects resulting in a reduction in carbon emissions (expected savings of £268,000 per annum);
• £219,000 for Anglesey County Council to implement two LED lighting projects and the conversion of leisure centres facilities to LED lighting (expected savings of £55,000 per annum); and
• £75,000 for National Library of Wales for the installation of Photovoltaic cells reducing the libraries reliance on grid electricity (expected savings of £8,000 per annum).

Jane Hutt said:

“I am delighted to be able to announce today that ten new projects across Wales will benefit from a total investment of £5m through our innovative Invest to Save scheme.  At a time of increasing budgetary pressures, these projects are expected to generate £3m of vital savings per annum for public sector organisations and improve efficiencies.

“This round of funding, as well as including a range of energy efficiency projects, will also see a number of preventative investment projects which have the potential to make a significant impact on public spending and the lives and well being of communities the length and breadth of the country.  I look forward to hearing their progress over the coming months.”

The Minister also encouraged the Welsh public service to make proposals for the next round of Invest to Save, worth approximately £20 million in 2016-17.

On Monday, the Finance Minister visited Hirwaun medical centre within Cwm Taf University Health Board, which received £75,000 through the scheme in April to implement the use of mobile data devices for nursing staff.  As a result of the investment, nurses have been able to carry out their community visits and transmit information remotely without returning to a desk to update systems.  The project is projected to generate savings of £300,000 per annum and has led to benefits to patients including decreased lengths of stay and reduced levels of admission.

Lynda Williams, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Patient Care at Cwm Taf University Health Board said:

“Being successful in an ‘Invest to Save’ allocation has meant that we have been able to provide dedicated staff resources to accelerate the roll out of the mobile devices to the District Nursing Teams in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Localities.

“District Nurses are already seeing the benefits and are using the information available to them, whilst working in the community, to improve patient outcomes.

“Electronic systems being introduced are providing more efficient processes, releasing time to support service improvement.”