Community nursing services in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan will benefit from a £4million funding boost from the Welsh government.
The money will be used to improve sevices in a variety of community settings including the expansion of community nursing and the introduction of wellbeing co-ordinators to help signpost people to relevant services.
it will also be used to provide additional access to pharmacy advice to manage patient medications and repeat prescriptions in GP practices and in patients own homes.
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board will use the funding to recruit extra staff to deliver the improvements.
Sue Morgan, deputy director of primary, community and mental health at Cardiff and Vale UHB, said: 'With increasing pressures on primary and community care services across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, this funding will enable us to target areas that require additional capacity so we can continue to deliver a local health service that is reflective of the needs of the community.'
The funding will also go towards expanding the current Community Resource Team model. The three existing teams in Cardiff and Vale have enabled the delivery of a service whcih supports earlier discharge from hospital and avoids admissions from the community. However, the demand for this service is greater than its capacity so the extra investment will allow these teams to improve access and support a greater number of patients in their homes.
Mark Drakeford, the minister for health and social care in Wales, said: 'This significant new package of funding will support a wide range of schemes to make it easier for people to get the right care, at the right time, closer to where they live. It will also help to relieve pressures on GPs by widening access to a broad range of highly-skilled primary care professionals.
'Primary care services are those services which are most frequently used by people; which we are most familiar with and we use most frequently. To protect and improve primary care, we are investing in these services; we are shifting the focus away from ill health and hospitals to improve health and care as close to home as possible.'