Western Bay Population Assessment

In 2014, the Welsh Government published the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, which came into force in April 2016 and is transforming the way health and social care services are delivered in Wales. It places a strong emphasis on person-centred care and the importance of collaborative working, as well as requiring service providers to consider new and innovative ways to make services more sustainable for the future.

Section 14A of the Act places a duty on Local Authorities and Local Health Boards to gather information on the care and support needs of the population. This is known as a Population Assessment and is intended to help service providers to understand more about the lives of people in the area and enable them to make better, more informed decisions about how care and support services are delivered.

In Western Bay, Bridgend County Borough Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, the City and County of Swansea and the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board have joined forces with partner organisations in the Third Sector to undertake this exercise, which considers:

• the range and level of services required to meet the care and support needs of people living within the region
• where there are gaps in service provision, and how these can be addressed
• what changes are required to improve services in the future.

The assessment also takes into account the support needs of carers, as well as considering the range and level of preventative services available across the region.  

The content of the Population Assessment is presented in three different ways. These are:

1. a website providing the key headlines of care and support needs, services and issues for the Western Bay area. 
2. a suite of downloadable chapters in PDF form, providing a more detailed description of findings. These can be found at the end of every chapter area on the website.
3. a suite of Technical Reports/Topic Papers containing a detailed analysis of the evidence gathered (available on request via the ‘Contact’ section of the Population Assessment website).

The next step will be to develop an Area Plan for Western Bay, which will draw on the information gathered during the Population Assessment to identify key areas of change which will be addressed in a joined up way over the coming years.

The Population Assessments will be repeated every four years and will be refreshed during that time, allowing Western Bay partners the opportunity to incorporate new information and to ensure progress is monitored effectively. This is the first time that a Population Assessment has been produced and there will be gaps in the information and changes to make in future.

If you have any queries about the Western Bay Population Assessment, please contact the Western Bay Programme Office on: