HEALTH secretary, Vaughan Gething, has announced the first project to be backed by the £100m Transformation Fund, to develop new models of health and social care.

Developed by the Cardiff and Vale Regional Partnership Board, the Me, My Home, My Community project integrates health and social care to bring care closer to home.

It will receive nearly £7m over two years from the Transformation Fund to change, develop and join up health and social care services, with more emphasis on preventing illness, and shifting services out of hospital to homes and communities.

The Transformation Fund has been created to support key actions from the Welsh Government’s long term plan for health and social care, A Healthier Wales.

Me, My Home, My Community is based on partnership working between all parts of the NHS, local authority services, charities and the voluntary sector to ensure individuals and families get the support they need closer to home, at the right time. It aims to maximise independence, which research has shown is the outcome that matters most to people.

The project is informed by a similar initiative developed in Canterbury, New Zealand and has a number of key elements which will improve how health and social services work together.

Some these elements include a well-being website which will link services across the community and allow health and social care professionals to share information about patients and multi-disciplinary teams.

During a visit to Redlands Surgery in Penarth last week, Mr Gething met members of the Cardiff and Vale team and some of the team visiting from New Zealand to see the development of the project.

Mr Gething said: “With an increase in life expectancy and our continued public health challenges, our health and social care services will continue to face increasing pressures. This is why, in our long term plan for health and social care, we have set out the need to truly transform the way we deliver care to ensure it is sustainable in the future.

"This will require better integration of health and social services to reduce reliance on hospitals and deliver care closer to home. The Transformation Fund will be used to fund a small number of projects which have the most impact in developing and delivering new models of care, and which have potential to scale up so they can be used across Wales."