Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 23 October 2018.
Thank you, leader of the house. I'm sure that you will be aware that this is an agenda that we've been talking about here in Wales for 18 years, to my sure and certain knowledge, and probably long before devolution. And I'm sure that you will understand that communities are beginning to lose patience with the speed of change. You may be aware that, on 13 June this year, Carmarthenshire County Council passed a motion requesting the Welsh Government to urgently look at the lack of integration between their social care policies, their social care activities and the Hywel Dda Local Health Board. There is real concern, I'm sure you'll acknowledge, in the west about the capacity of that health board to deliver on this ambitious agenda.
We have the announcement of a further £180 million today to deliver seamless health and social care. Of course, we're going to welcome that. I'm unclear whether it's new money, but, put against the £8 billion of the total health budget, it does really slightly look that perhaps we're putting a bit of a sticking plaster on a haemorrhage. What reassurances, leader of the house, can you give that the Welsh Government will focus on this area of work and that communities in the west can see an accelerated pace of change towards that seamless service, which we have all been talking about as the right way to proceed for many years now?