Congress report - European Health Forum Gastein

Plenary Session I + II
Alliances as a core resource for gathering grass roots health intelligence and assessment of
need. It is at this level that local cross cutting policy will be initiated.
The successful transformation of the NHS rests, in part, on our vision of what changes are
necessary to deliver a service focused on health inequalities and health improvement.
Developments will occur in the organisation and practice of primary, secondary, intermediate
and tertiary care. These improvements will repair the fragmentation of the service over the
last twenty years turning the NHS into a unified and whole system more capable of engaging
with its partners and influencing their policies. Continuous improvement will be a central
theme in all that we do. Public health professionals will have an important role and public
health teams will be developed in the primary and community settings as a resource to all
the community. Primary care will be strengthened and will take a more active role in
population health, but also their surgeries will increasingly become Community Centres
where advice on welfare, housing and other basic social needs can be provided under one
roof and opportunities for patient involvement encouraged.
The development of the health workforce is also necessary to deliver renewed health services
not only to meet the rapidly changing clinical demands but also to better equip them to deal
with the new partnerships with patients and the wider community.
Alongside all of this, we are refining and improving how we measure the performance of the
system and the outcome of our action. We are developing a set of measurement tools,
health gain targets and mechanisms that will ensure the continued improvement of the NHS
in Wales and its partners.
The structure of the service will be made simpler, it will become more accountable for its
action and services, and it will have a more democratic voice in the way it is governed. To
achieve this the local and national organisations will be strengthened, our existing five
Health Authorities will be abolished and at a local level we will set up 22 Local Health
Boards that will include representatives of local health professionals, elected members of
local government, NGO's and members of the public. This will provide a truly inclusive
platform to ensure that all interests are represented.
At the national level I am forming a Health and Well-Being Council to advise me on health
policy. This will be an inclusive arena in which representatives of all the stakeholders in the
community will bring their experience to bear on the development of policies and plans.
They will look at the development of public policy and help in considering the health impact
of policies at both a national and local level. The supporting infrastructure of the Assembly
is being reorganised so that its policy divisions related to health and well-being will be
better placed to provide strategic leadership and direction.
To achieve our aims four main interconnected areas for action have been chosen to ensure
that scientific, economic, social and political sustainability drive the implementation of health
improvement in Wales :
• multi-sectoral strategies to tackle the determinants of health, taking into account
physical, economic, social, cultural and gender perspectives, and ensuring the use
of health impact assessment;
• health-outcome-driven programmes and investments for health development and
clinical care;
• integrated family and community-oriented primary health care, supported by a
flexible and responsive hospital system;
International Forum Gastein, Tauernplatz 1, A-5630 Bad Hofgastein
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