THE Welsh government has today launched a 50-day challenge it says will help more people safely return home from the hospital and to ease winter pressures on the health and care system. 

Health boards and local authorities will work together to use a 10-point action plan to support more people who have experienced long delays in hospital to return home. 

The challenge aims to ensure the NHS and local councils work together to share and learn from best practices to improve system performance and ensure the right support is available to help people stay well or recover at home or in the community.  

All health boards and local authorities have accepted the 50-day Integrated Care Winter Challenge set by ministers, which will run to the end of the year.  

The challenge will also specifically target the people who have been waiting the longest to leave the hospital.  

The NHS in Britain is experiencing persistently high levels of delayed discharges which negatively affect people’s long-term health and the “flow” through the wider health and care system.

Welsh Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Miles stressed the need to support health and care services over winter to aid “the sickest and most vulnerable people.” 

He said that “there is no place like home for people to recover” once ready to leave the hospital, and that community support services can “help prevent people needing to go to hospital.” 

The 10-point action plan includes improving hospital discharge procedures, planning for discharge from the point of admission, ensuring a proportionate and effective seven-day working to enable weekend discharges, undertaking more assessments in the community and providing community rehabilitation and re-ablement to help people recover fully.   

Diane Walker, head of Integrated Discharge Service at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: “When a patient spends longer than necessary in hospital, they are at a higher risk of losing their independence and deteriorating further.”

She shared the case of an elderly patient whose discharge was delayed due to challenges in finding a suitable care home, increasing his risks of deconditioning and infection. 

A care home place was eventually secured and the case led to an agreement that health and social care teams will now collaborate on patient information to prevent future delays and ensure smoother transitions.

Plaid Cymru’s health spokesperson Mabon ap Gwynfor said: “After 25 years in power, this latest scheme is another admission of failure on Labour's part to get to grips with the fundamental issues.

They don't have a care workforce plan in place, they aren't paying carers enough, and they are failing to provide enough funding to our local authorities in charge of social care.

While we welcome initiatives to speed up hospital discharge times and improve community care, until they get the fundamentals right we'll only see more of the same.”