THE WELSH Government has said it will invest up to £30m to deliver more care at home or in the community and reduce the time people spend in hospitals.

The Minister for Health and Social Services Eluned Morgan and Deputy Minister for Social Services Julie Morgan said th new investment will “improve people’s chances of living at home independently, increase use of technology and redeploy staff and resources to ensure people living with frailty are supported to live at home.”

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: “It’s estimated that in less than 20 years there will be nearly 150,000 more people aged 75 or older in Wales and there is a projected increase of 61.3 per cent in the Welsh population who are 85 and over. “This is a sign of the success of our NHS and is something we should be proud of.

“Older people contribute hugely to Welsh society and they tell us what matters to them is fairly simple - if they need care and support, they want to be cared for in familiar surroundings with familiar people and do not want to go to hospital unless this is really necessary.

“Research has also shown that people recover better in the comfort of their own home rather than in hospital, where they are less likely to become deconditioned and less likely to pick up infections.

“We must focus on transforming the way we provide care to enable this.

“We need to move the focus from treating short term episodes of ill-health to meeting the needs of more frail and elderly people with multiple health conditions.

“I have told health boards that addressing delayed transfers of care needs to be their number one priority, and this funding should help them with that challenge.”