Funding of £2m announced to upgrade emergency departments across Wales this winter

A £2m fund to upgrade emergency department waiting areas this winter has been announced by the Welsh Government.

The improvements will provide facilities in hospital emergency departments, including improved seating, information screens, better access to water or food stations and improvements to Wi-Fi and electrical charging points.

The funding is in addition to plans the Welsh Government, NHS and local government have put in place to prepare for winter.

These include recruiting 100 new ambulance clinicians and changes to staff rosters to improve ambulance response times.

Health and Social Services Minister Eluned Morgan said: “None of us want to go to hospital, but if we need to this extra investment to improve emergency department waiting rooms should make the experience a little easier.”

At a press conference this morning the health minister was challenged over today’s announcement and asked it it was a “bad sign of the state of affairs in terms of how many people are waiting a long time in those waiting rooms.”

Ms Morgan said: “I think that people who have been waiting in accident and emergency departments will be grateful for the additional investment.

“We recognise that we need to upgrade some of these places because the fact is that there will be people waiting for a long time and I think we’ve got to just bite that bullet and understand the reality of the situation.”