Wakefield awarded £1m to care for the elderly

Health and social care teams in the district have been given more than £1m to help care for the elderly.
Paula BeePaula Bee
Paula Bee

Wakefield was chosen as one of 29 vanguard areas across the country by NHS England.

The £200m initiative aims to bring hospitals, community services, GPs and care homes together and make it easier for the sectors to provide care.

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It could lead to more services being available at GP practices rather than in hospitals, and more NHS care provided in care homes.

Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group’s new care models programme has been awarded £1.08m to provide better care for older people.

AGE UK chief executive Paula Bee, who applied for the grant, said: “We are so pleased that our older people are going to benefit from the ground breaking work being done as part of this programme.

“We believe it will contribute to a better life experience for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, giving them a more personalised service with a better experience and improved health.”

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The NHS initiative aims to increase the co-operation between district nursing, community matrons, social workers, GPs and Age UK Living Well workers.

NHS England Director Samantha Jones said: “We are pleased to be able to support Wakefield’s care homes vanguard.

“The changes they have planned will help deliver a raft of benefits for patients, local people and staff.

“We are also supporting them to help spread good practice across the wider NHS and social care community.”

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Melanie Brown is working with the programme to integrate health and social care services in the district.

She said: “This announcement confirms that we are offering an innovative solution that will break the mould for older people in care homes.

“It will help tackle social isolation and shift fragmented care to connected care.”