Comments submitted to the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales

Learned Society of Wales Working Group on Health and Social Care
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The Society recently provided a second submission to the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care in Wales

We pointed out previously that the root cause of much of the burden of ill health and poor wellbeing of older people is set at the prenatal and early year’s life stages. So whilst we appreciate the reasons why the Review Panel identified as a priority the urgent need for new integrated models of care for the frail elderly in Wales, we would at the same time reiterate that Wales cannot afford to lose sight of the longer term generational impact of the health and wellbeing needs of mothers-to-be, infants and pre-school children. Wales has relatively high levels of pregnancy risk factors for poor birth and early years’ outcomes, including low school readiness, which set a life course of disadvantage for these children. Consequently, we strongly support the “Future Generations” paradigm as the right paradigm to tackle the wider determinants of health, and we reiterate that the place based approach -“Cynefin” – offers an appropriate distinctive Welsh way “to reconnect public policy with our lived experience and the places and relationships we care about; and as a result to deliver more meaningful and effective solutions”.