Ymlaen - the new research, innovation and improvement strategy for social care

Today we’ve launched Ymlaen, our new research, innovation and improvement strategy.

The aim of the strategy is to create a culture where evidence plays a central role in the delivery of social care, and where people feel supported and inspired to try new things.

Ymlaen – which means ‘forward’ in Welsh – is a shared strategy. Together with our partners, we want to create inclusive and accessible environments where research and evidence help to guide and inspire decision-making at all levels.

We want people leading, developing and delivering social care to feel confident using evidence and innovation to make a positive difference to care and support in Wales.

We know that there’s great work going on across social care in Wales. We want to use the knowledge and experience of practitioners to focus on what matters and bring about change that works in practice.

Ymlaen will also help us develop a better understanding of the impact of our work. It’s important that we continuously learn and adapt what we do to maximise the positive difference we can make to people delivering care and support.

As we work with our partners to put the strategy into practice, we’ll learn from people working in and using care and support, and from research and data.

We’ll evaluate our impact as we go and be open and transparent about what is and isn’t working. We’ll be flexible, using what we learn to adapt our approach where needed.