HYWEL Dda Health Board will receive a share of £45m extra funding to help cope with increased demand during ‘winter pressures’, the Welsh health minister has announced.

Mark Drakeford said the money, which has been found from Welsh Government reserves, will help ensure services are able to respond to the additional demand with the first week of January 2016 seeing more patients needing care than in the first week of January 2015.

Hospital A&E departments and the Welsh Ambulance Service has seen a significant increase in patients needing services with an increase in admissions, especially older patients with acute conditions.

Statistics show that the number of emergency ambulances attending A&E departments in 2016 were 22 per cent higher than the January 2015 average, with A&E attendances up to 23 per cent higher than the average in January 2015.

Mr Drakeford said:“This extra £45m of new funding will help our health service continue to deal with the significant increase in the pressures which it is facing and manage this surge in demand without any knock-on effects on other parts of the service.”