PLANS have been announced to improve access to urgent and emergency care in Wales.

Eluned Morgan had previously announced £25 million in funding for the NHS Wales’ Six Goals for Urgent and Emergency Care programme, which aims to improve access to healthcare services as close to home as possible – meaning patients will only attend hospital when necessary.

The six goals for urgent and emergency care are:

  • Improved co-ordination, planning and support for people at greater risk of needing urgent or emergency care;
  • Signposting patients to the right place at the first opportunity;
  • Provide access to clinically safe alternatives to hospital admission;
  • Provide a rapid response in cases of a physical or mental health crisis;
  • Optimise hospital care following admission;
  • Provide a home-first approach and reduce the risk of patients being readmitted.

The NHS is currently facing unprecedented pressure, with figures showing that at the end of February, almost 700,000 patients were waiting for treatments.

The health minister had committed an extra £25 million funding each year to support the Six Goals programme.

This includes around £20 million for health boards and partners to increase capacity in urgent primary care and same-day emergency care services in 2022/23, as well as a new £4 million innovation and delivery fund to support Wales-wide projects as part of the Six Goals programme.

Each health board will be asked to submit plans showing they are meeting the programme’s priorities – which include setting up urgent primary care centres and same-day emergency care services and recruiting new teams featuring clinical, operational and analytical expertise.

The nationwide roll-out of the 111 service in Wales – providing urgent health advice is now available across Wales, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week – is one of the projects launched as part of the Six Goals programme.

Ms Morgan said: “The NHS is under a lot of pressure at the moment but every day it provides life-saving and life-changing care for tens of thousands of people across Wales.

“The Six Goals programme is designed to help improve access to urgent and emergency care for all those people who need this care and ensure there are alternative services available for those people who need a different type of response – we want everyone to get the best possible care, as quickly as possible and as close to home as possible.

“But it’s also important they get it from the right service the first time.”