Welsh health secretary Jeremy Miles has reported that the 50-day winter challenge to help more people return home from hospital is showing promising results.

The challenge was launched earlier this winter to ensure that the NHS and local councils worked together to share and learn from the best practice to ensure the right support is available to help people stay well, or to recover at home or in their local community.

Health boards and local authorities have been using a 10-point action plan to reduce the overall numbers of people who experience discharge delays and to reduce the number of days people were delayed overall.

The plan targeted the 25 per cent of people with the longest hospital discharge delays and ensured appropriate plans were in place to support their discharge.

It was supported by £19 million of Welsh Government funding.

Recent figures show that December was the fourth successive month where the number of hospital discharge delays fell. There has been a 14 per cent improvement in delays since March 2024.

395 people were identified as facing the longest discharge delays and more than half were discharged by the end of December. Of the remaining 170 people, 80.5 per cent have agreed discharge plans to either go home or to a care facility.

Health secretary Jeremy Miles said: "The initial results are positive, but there is a lot more to do to reduce delayed discharges in hospital and help people stay well at home.

"Health boards and social care partners now need to keep working together to implement the 10 key policies and actions that we know make the biggest difference, in the longer term."