Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Last October, I shared with the previous Assembly my plans to extend the major health delivery plans until March 2020. The cancer, heart disease, diabetes, end-of-life care, critically ill and stroke delivery plans have been reviewed and are in the process of being refreshed. The respiratory and neurological conditions plans will be reviewed in 2017. The liver disease delivery plan is due to end in 2020. I am going to launch the second mental health delivery plan on 10 October on World Mental Health Day. This Government has invested £10 million annually—that’s £1 million for each of the delivery plans—and the impact of this investment is reported in annual reports for each major health condition.

There is a lot to be proud of. Since their introduction, each delivery plan has helped to improve the care and treatment of people with a major health condition. There have been significant improvements in patient outcomes including, for example, a steady decline in the rate of people in Wales dying from cardiovascular disease and diabetes-related diseases. Survival rates for many major health conditions such as stroke and heart disease are improving, as are survival rates for people being treated in critical care units in Wales.

Each delivery group has had a focus on prevention and support, with an emphasis on co-production with the third sector in particular. The diabetes implementation group has developed patient resources to educate and support people living with diabetes, covering subjects such as the importance of retinal screening, foot care and hypoglycaemia. The stroke implementation group is piloting an approach with primary and community care to identify those at risk of atrial fibrillation and ensure that the appropriate treatment is in place. This should reduce the number of people having strokes, as well as supporting people to understand and manage their own risk. The results from the pilot indicate that, if rolled out, this approach could result in a 10 per cent reduction in the number of strokes across Wales.

Ensuring services are working well and efficiently for the benefit of patients is a key aspect of each delivery plan. Working in partnership, the heart disease, stroke and diabetes implementation groups are introducing a national programme for cardiovascular risk assessment. This is focusing upon patients with the highest risk of cardiovascular disease in the most deprived areas in Wales, and aims to identify undiagnosed cardiovascular disease and to support people to reduce their own risk factors for developing the condition.

Developing effective rehabilitation services has been a national priority for both the neurological conditions and stroke implementation groups. As a result, both groups have jointly provided £1.2 million to support community neuro-rehabilitation services. In addition, staff at Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board ran a pilot seven-day patient-centred, integrated rehabilitation service for stroke. The results have shown a reduction in the average length of stay for patients from 58 days down to 24 days. The new service has continued and has been expanded. The learning from this service will be shared with other health boards at a national stroke learning event.

Making sure patients receive fast diagnosis improves the support and treatment that services can provide, and there are many excellent examples of progress in this area, including the new community cardiology service funded by the heart disease implementation group, now in operation across all health boards. The service provides a direct access one-stop cardiology community clinic and has introduced community cardiology services to provide basic diagnostics and assessment closer to home in primary care or in a community hospital setting.

Supported by Macmillan Cancer Support and the cancer delivery plan, a programme of investment in primary care oncology has commenced. Lead GPs and nurses have been identified in each health board area to support primary care clusters to improve diagnosis, referral and post-treatment support.

In September last year, the end-of-life care implementation board introduced an advance care plan, which details a patient’s wishes and preferences for future care. To date, for example, more than 900 members of staff have received training on care decisions in Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board alone.

In response to its local priorities required to deliver the critically ill delivery plan, Cardiff and Vale university health board opened a post-anaesthetic care unit in January last year, providing ring-fenced critical care capacity for high-risk, post-operative elective patients. The new unit has already delivered improved patient outcomes and revolutionised the delivery of critical care for elective surgery patients. For example, it’s reduced cancellations due to emergency pressures, it’s supported a further reduction in length of stay, and it’s reduced delayed transfers of care.

To actively self-manage, individuals need confidence and skills to manage their health on a daily basis and implementation groups have worked with health boards to improve services and patient experience. The diabetes implementation group has developed an all-Wales structured education programme for 11 to 16-year-olds with diabetes, called SEREN. For each of the delivery plans, the patient experience and their voice are represented by the appropriate support groups.

The neurological conditions and stroke implementation group are working together to develop a patient-reported experience measure and a patient-reported outcome measure for stroke and neurological conditions. This is a really significant piece of work that has not been attempted in other parts of the UK before. Both measures should be available for national roll-out by March 2018.

The cancer implementation group has established a three-year quality and governance cycle for peer review. All of the main cancer services have been reviewed and are now being re-reviewed, starting with lung cancer during 2016. Findings have already demonstrated measurable change, including the funding of clinical nurse specialists and other clinical staff, and the development of clinical policies and protocols to minimise unnecessary variation in standards of care across health boards. This model has been adapted by a number of implementation groups, such as those for the critically ill, heart disease and diabetes.

As I hope Members can see, from each delivery plan and implementation group, there has been a profound and positive impact. I expect the refreshed delivery plans to continue to do so, and I would like to thank the implementation groups for the progress that they have made against the current plans, and I look forward to further achievements over the coming years right across Wales.