Charities working with the NHS
Published on 16 January 2015 10:00 AM
Age Cymru and our sister charity Age Cymru Gwent were guests on BBC Wales's Jason Mohammad Programme yesterday (Thursday 15 January).
We gave our reaction to a story about Age UK, Red Cross and the RVS calling for volunteers and staff to be stationed in hospitals to help to feed and hydrate vulnerable patients.
Our Head of Policy and Public Affairs - Graeme Francis, told the Jason Mohammad Programme:
"The pressures on providing NHS services during the winter have been well documented over recent weeks.
"It is vital that everyone involved in providing services to patients is pulling in the same direction to ensure that patients receive high quality services where and when they need them.
"Services provided by Age Cymru across Wales can play an important role in helping patients and reducing pressure on the NHS.
"Many of these services are already established and range from assisting people with tasks in hospital to helping patients return home and supporting them to resettle once they've been discharged.
"This is especially important as it helps to free up beds on wards and can reduce the pressure on A&E departments.
"Age Cymru would welcome similar discussions in Wales on what more we could do to support hospital services.
"Hospitals need to be clear about what they need from the third sector and the roles that volunteers can fulfil - there has sometimes been confusion over this in the past."