6th January 2020

Health and social services spending to increase by £421m in Wales

Health Minister Vaughan Gething has welcomed an extra £421m for health and social services in Wales, including more investment in transformation and buildings.

The extra investment announced in the 2020/21 Welsh Government draft budget takes health and social services spending in Wales to over £8bn a year.

Despite pressure on our overall budget, I’m delighted that this Welsh Government continues to increase spending on health and social services,” Mr Gething said.

Spending on health and social services per person is increasing faster here than any of the other UK nations. As well as investing in our workforce and infrastructure we are putting extra money into transforming the way services are delivered so we can meet the demands of the future.

Along with our investment in preventing illness and providing care closer to home, this will help us deliver our long-term vision for health and social services in Wales as set-out in ‘A Healthier Wales’.

The majority of the additional funding will be used to meet increased costs of ensuring the continuation of high quality NHS services in Wales. It also includes:

An increase of £36m in the capital budget, making a total investment of £374m for building projects. This includes the final phases of the Grange University Hospital, next phase of refurbishment of Merthyr’s Prince Charles Hospital and work to reduce carbon emissions.

An additional £10m for local authority social services.

• Extra £10m to strengthen and develop primary care clusters, which provide access to a wider range of health and wellbeing services at home, or closer to home.
• £20m extra for mental health.
• £5.5m for the Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales Strategy to support people to maintain a healthy weight and increase their physical activity.
• £4.9m to support the development of a National Health Protection Service, helping the fight against Anti-Microbial Resistance.