Consultation: Priorities for the Health and Social Care Committee

Following the 2026 Senedd election, the Seventh Senedd has begun its work with a new political and policy landscape. The Senedd has increased from 60 to 96 Members, with a new electoral system and 16 constituencies returning 6 Senedd members each. The new Welsh Government has set out its priorities for the current Senedd term, including areas relating to health, social care, prevention, mental health, health inequalities, community-based services and workforce sustainability.

The Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee is responsible for scrutinising the Welsh Government’s work across health and social care. As part of establishing its priorities for the Seventh Senedd, the Committee has launched a consultation seeking views on the most significant challenges facing health and social care in Wales and where its scrutiny could make the greatest difference.

The consultation asks organisations and individuals to consider whether the Welsh Government’s current health and care priorities reflect the most significant challenges facing communities across Wales, whether any important priorities are missing, the main barriers to delivering these priorities and measuring progress, and what the Committee should focus on to make the biggest difference during the Seventh Senedd.

The consultation provides an opportunity for organisations working directly with people and communities to contribute to the Committee’s understanding of the challenges facing health and social care and to highlight issues that may require greater political and policy attention.

The Health and Social Care Committee is seeking evidence and views to help inform its work programme and scrutiny priorities for the Seventh Senedd. The Committee’s scrutiny role provides a significant opportunity to examine how Welsh Government commitments are being implemented, whether resources are being used effectively and whether policy changes are resulting in meaningful improvements for people across Wales.

The consultation is particularly relevant in the context of ongoing pressures across health and social care, including workforce challenges, demand for mental health and substance use services, health inequalities, pressures on community and preventative services, and the need for greater integration between health, social care and other services.

The Committee is also seeking views on how progress should be measured. This provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of looking beyond activity and waiting time measures to consider people’s experiences, outcomes, access to support, inequalities and the extent to which services are coordinated around individual needs.

Adferiad is responding to the consultation based on our experience of supporting people across Wales affected by mental ill health, substance use, caring responsibilities and other complex or co-occurring needs.

Our response highlights the importance of viewing health and social care priorities as interconnected. People with complex needs can experience fragmented services, different eligibility criteria and unclear pathways between mental health, social care and other forms of support. We therefore believe that integration, accessibility and prevention should be central to the Committee’s scrutiny of the Welsh Government’s priorities.

The response also identifies areas that we believe require greater emphasis, including the integration of mental health and substance use services, accessible early intervention and community support, the role of unpaid carers, care and treatment planning, the legislative framework for mental health and substance use, and suitable funding and commissioning.

Through our frontline services and engagement with people with lived experience, Adferiad sees the impact that gaps in services and fragmented systems can have on individuals and families. Our response therefore focuses on whether policies and services are in place, as well as whether they are accessible, joined up and delivering meaningful outcomes for the people who rely on them.

The following sets out our responses to the questions included in the Health and Social Care Committee’s consultation on priorities for the Seventh Senedd.