3. Pa asesiad y mae Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet wedi'i wneud o'r cynnydd a wnaed dros y chwe mis diwethaf i ddatrys problemau ym Mwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr? OAQ52607

In my regular statements on Betsi Cadwaladr university health board, I have set out the detail of where improvements have been made, such as in maternity services, but I have also been very clear where the health board must take urgent action over the next 18 months. In May this year I published a new improvement framework for Betsi and I announced a range of intensive support, including the additional £6.8 million of investment I mentioned earlier in conversation with Rhun ap Iorwerth, which I've targeted at key areas of performance where I expect to see urgent improvements. Detailed progress reports will be provided against the improvement framework. These will be published in October this year.

Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. I hope you're familiar with the shocking and distressing case of Reece Yates, the baby who died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital and whose inquest took place yesterday. As you know, this is a hospital run by Betsi Cadwaladr board. The inquest heard that Reece would have had every chance of surviving his complications having been treated elsewhere, and that only a breakdown of communication prevented his transfer to a unit on the Wirral. For the board to admit, albeit through their solicitor, that, and I'm quoting here:

'Reece's chances of survival would have been better if he had been born at an alternative unit.' 

It's a shocking admission that failings at the hospital were a factor in this baby's death, although I do believe that the board should be given credit for being honest. So, my question to you, Cabinet Secretary, is: will you hold an inquiry into this case and, if need be, will people finally be sacked for the now fatal failings of the health board that you're in charge of? 

I have tremendous sympathy for the family for their loss. I don't want to try and use the position that they find themselves in to either take credit or to score points. I think the important point is that in every incident of this kind there is of course an internal review about what happened and what went wrong. We discussed earlier on another question about the real and lasting impact of where healthcare goes wrong, including the possibility that people will lose their lives. Of course, I expect any and every part of the health service, not just in north Wales, to properly learn from when healthcare does go wrong and to provide the reassurance that I think people will look for. I'm not looking to use a headline opportunity to arbitrarily dismiss people within the health service, but I do expect there to be proper accountability and learning, which is what I think the wider public expect.

Thank you, Llywydd. I’m very pleased, of course, that the intensive care department, the SuRNICC, has now opened at Glan Clwyd, and it would be good to be able to congratulate the Government on their vision in that regard. But, of course, the truth is that the Government and the health board, back in 2013, had approved the downgrading of intensive care services for newborn babies in north Wales. At that time, the plan was to move the service to Arrowe Park in the north-west of England. Now, it was only a powerful campaign from residents in north Wales that forced the Government to change direction. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate those campaigners on their determination and perseverance. Their campaign changed the minds of the health board and it changed the Government’s mind too, ensuring that a SuRNICC was developed as a centre for intensive care services in north Wales for the babies of the future. So, will you join with me in congratulating those campaigners on their success and to thank them for their untiring efforts?

There was a range of people, of course, who were involved in conversations and campaigns at the time, and the Government did look again and have a review, and the First Minister made a choice on the back of an expert review, which has now led to the SuRNICC being opened. There are people in this Chamber who took part in that campaign, and I see the local Member looking at me, and of course she was one of those who was remarkably forthright not just in public, but in private as well, as I recall, at the time.

The success story is that we chose on the back of that to invest significant additional resource and, actually, when I visited the unit before its formal opening I saw people who had received care and they were remarkably positive about the quality of care they'd received. It was instructive to me that some staff had said that they didn't quite believe it would actually happen, even when the building was taken place, and there's something there about the lack of trust and that we need to continue to rebuild with our staff and the public that decisions that we make will be followed through. But those staff who are working on the ward now recognise they have top-class facilities, they are proud of the care they deliver, and, more importantly, I think people in north Wales can have real confidence and pride in the quality of the service following the investment this Government has made.