He gave a personal commitment to delegates to continue to support the journey ahead.
“This has been an incredibly difficult year in terms of the financial and political position, and I know that this winter has been a particular challenge.
"It has been my privilege to visit colleagues on the frontline to see for myself the reality of that situation, and I am in no doubt that, without the resilience and commitment of those colleagues, the system simply would not have survived.
"For my part I am clear that we cannot go on like this, and I give you my commitment to do whatever I can to successfully continue the transformation journey. There simply is no alternative."
More detail on the progress achieved against key transformation priorities are available to download.
Transformation Implementation Group members (TIG) also attended the conference and several participated in a discussion panel, facilitated by Mark Carruthers, sharing their personal reflections on the transformation process and taking questions from the floor.