The pressures on our health and care system continue to challenge us, and I remain hugely grateful for the tireless work and dedication of our health and social care delivery partners and, of course, their incredible workforce.

The Welsh Government wants people to be able to live their best lives as independently as possible in their own communities. The ability of health and social care organisations to work together as a whole system is essential as more people live for longer, sometimes managing multiple health conditions and with diverse care and support needs. I am committed to driving change and transformation and, to enable this, learning about best practice needs to be shared across Wales.  

These are the reasons why, a year ago, alongside my ministerial colleagues, the Minister for Health and Social Services and the Deputy Minister for Mental Health and Well-being, I launched the new and ambitious five-year health and social care regional integration fund, as one of the ways the Welsh Government is supporting health and social care system transformation. Managed through regional partnership boards, over the last 12 months, nearly £145 million has been invested.  Despite the significant system pressures experienced over the last 12 months, and an increasingly challenged financial landscape, RPBs have continued to build on the foundations of 'A Healthier Wales' and create an environment in which health and social care partners actively embrace and deliver service transformation.