A £20m boost for intermediate care funding across Wales will create opportunities for investment in physiotherapy, the CSP’s policy officer for Wales has said.
The overall aim of the funding is to help people maintain their independence
Philippa Ford’s comment followed the Welsh government’s announcement of its draft budget for health and social care services. It has proposed an overall increase of £300m next year, including a promise to raise the intermediate care fund to £50m.
Wales’ intermediate care fund covers integrated working between NHS and social care staff to support older and vulnerable people. The overall aim is to help people to maintain their independence, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and enable patients to be discharged early from hospital.
‘I do feel that this is important for physios and other allied health professionals,’ said Ms Ford.
‘This is because the government is focusing on keeping people in their own homes and out of hospital.’
A spokesperson for the Welsh government told Frontline that it was also investing an additional £21m in social services through the local government revenue support grant.
Health funding in Wales fell by 4.3 per cent in real terms between 2009/10 and 2012/13, according to the Nuffield Trust.
The Welsh government, however, said its proposed increase would mean that health expenditure in Wales for 2016-17 would be higher in real terms than it was in 2010/11.
Responding to the draft budget, the shadow finance minister Nick Ramsay said: ‘By failing to protect the budget, our health service has been starved of £1 billion since 2010/11.
‘Adjusted for age – and reflected by our increasingly ageing population – health spending per capita in Wales remains £50 lower than our counterparts in England. That’s a national scandal.’
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