Welsh health and social services receive £551m to deal with COVID and tackle waiting times

Welsh Health Minister Eluned Morgan has welcomed more than half a billion pounds of new funding for health and social services in Wales to deal with COVID.

The Welsh Government has allocated £411 million for ongoing costs of dealing with the pandemic until April 2022 and £140 million for recovery and tackling waiting times.

According to the minister, waiting lists in Wales have increased by over 33 percent, and part of the funding will be used for purchasing equipment to increase capacity.

Eluned said: “The COVID pandemic has had a massive impact on the NHS and social services in Wales and is still facing significant costs in dealing with it. I am therefore pleased to confirm an extra £411m for these costs, including the vaccination programme, testing, PPE, and new cleaning standards for infection control.

“The knock-on effect from dealing with the pandemic has also been huge. Waiting lists have increased by more than 33% and are now at record levels. Getting back to where we were before the pandemic is going to take a lot of time and investment in new ways of working. So we are also providing an extra £140m to the NHS for this work.

“£100m will be used to help health boards’ recovery plans, including speeding up the treatment of those who have been waiting the longest. While £40m is for equipment and adapting hospitals and other buildings to increase capacity for routine procedures, whilst maintaining COVID safe areas.”

This latest funding boost is an addition to the £100 million funding announced in May to support the Welsh Government’s Health and Social Services COVID Recovery Plan.