The Scottish Government has announced a new investment of over £300 million in hospital and community care to help tackle what is anticipated to be the toughest winter the NHS and social care system has ever faced.
The new fund will support a range of measures to maximise capacity in hospitals and primary care, reduce delayed discharges, improve pay for social care staff, and ensure those in the community who need support receive effective and responsive care.
It includes over £60 million to maximise the capacity of care at home services and £20 million to enhance multidisciplinary teams, enable more social work assessments to be carried out and support joint working between health and social care.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said:
“This significant new investment will help get people the care they need as quickly as possible this winter. Bolstering the caring workforce by increasing their numbers, providing them with additional support, and increasing the wages of social care staff. Our NHS, social care staff and social work staff have been remarkable throughout the pandemic and today’s additional investment will help support them to deliver care to people across Scotland this winter.”
