3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Launch of the new Health and Social Care Regional Integration Fund

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 1 February 2022.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 3:24, 1 February 2022

Thanks very much, Mike. Certainly, in terms of prevention, that's very much the whole philosophy behind the 'A Healthier Wales' programme, which you will be aware of. And if the pandemic has shown us anything, it has shown that, actually, it's the people who are the poorest, it's the most disadvantaged, who've actually paid the greatest price. And so unless we start to address that issue of prevention, getting in early, getting in from a young age, we're unlikely to see any significant shift in terms of the longer term health outcomes unless we address those very early issues that are clear.

In terms of the outcomes, well, what we've got is six priority areas. So, there are six priority areas: community-based care; complex care closer to home; promoting good emotional health and well-being; supporting families to stay together; home-from-hospital services; accommodation-based services. All of those things are things that are very clear in terms of the priorities. When it comes to outcomes, what happens next is that we'll be sitting down with the regional partnership boards—we have a meeting with them tomorrow—and we'll start going through, 'Look, what are the outcomes that we're looking for?' It's really important that, actually, I think they need to own these outcomes as well. So, they need a sense of ownership; it's really important, I think, for us to develop those together.

But, certainly, in terms of hospital-to-home, you talk about the Royal College of Surgeons—you know, we're very much in agreement with them. And you can see, as one of the six priorities there, home-from-hospital services—. There's that, there is the home-from-hospital, which is key. But you're absolutely right, what we need to do is the prevention work beforehand, and that can also be funded from this funding here, the regional integration fund.