The health board is continuing to develop primary care services, and works closely with its local authority partners on integrated approaches to public services. Innovative examples include working with local authorities and the third sector to identify older people at risk and developing a Stay Well plan with the person; the introduction of specialist diabetic nurses in primary care; and the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration in the community.

The SCCC will create a highly specialised environment to support the treatment of patients who need complex and acute emergency care in the region. It will play a key role as part of the healthcare system for south Wales as a whole and it will be the focus for one of the three acute care alliances established following the south Wales programme. I expect the NHS to continually improve outcomes for patients, and we know that consolidating the more specialised services will help to achieve that aim. The SCCC will provide a modern purpose-designed environment that will allow highly specialised multidisciplinary teams to provide the best possible treatment and outcomes for patients.

The evolving model in Aneurin Bevan university health board is of a service based on prudent principles that ensures local access to most services whilst bringing together expertise in more specialised areas to secure sustainable and high-quality services. The health board is preparing plans for the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall hospitals, and for St Woolos Hospital. I expect those plans to be radical in scope and to ensure that these hospitals play their role in supporting primary care and the local general hospitals whilst being supported in turn by the SCCC. My decision to approve the SCCC brings with it an expectation that the health board will ensure that its healthcare provision works together as an integrated, effective and efficient system.

Support for the SCCC is strategically significant not only for Aneurin Bevan university health board, but for south Wales as a whole, as I mentioned earlier. The SCCC was supported by the south Wales programme—a major planning process involving a number of health boards. I have been very clear since becoming Cabinet Secretary that planning and service development at a regional level are essential as we work to deliver our ambitions for the health service. Organisational boundaries can too easily get in the way of effective planning with a focus on delivering benefits to citizens.

I made clear my ambition to be the last health Minister to have to make a decision on the SCCC proposal and to provide real certainty as soon as I was able. I also made a commitment to reach that decision by the end of October, and I’ve delivered against that commitment. I do understand the frustration that has been felt by some around the time it’s taken to reach this point. However, my priority has been to make the right decision following a robust examination of the SCCC business case. I had to be sure that the SCCC was the right fit not only for Gwent, but for the configuration of health services across south Wales. That is why I instructed officials to carry out more work over the summer after an independent review.

My decision to approve the SCCC is a practical demonstration by this Government that we will support changes that bring benefits not only at a local level, but across the wider health and care system. I now expect the NHS to build on this decision and accelerate the pace of development to ensure that the Welsh NHS remains focused on quality, innovation, integration and ambition on behalf of the people that it serves.