4. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: Cwm Taf Maternity Services

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 9 October 2018.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 2:56, 9 October 2018

I, too, join Members' sentiments about this terribly tragic sequence of events that have led to, obviously, the cases coming to public attention. It is worth noting that the Cwm Taf health board, from a senior management level, has been heavily engaged in a merger with the Princess of Wales Hospital, and I'd be grateful to understand from the Cabinet Secretary as to whether that merger has deflected from the day-to-day running of the health board. As I understand it, the two areas of concern are, one, on staffing, and, two, on reporting of incidents. Now, both of those things are down to the management and structure of the day-to-day delivery of the service. It's good to hear from the Cabinet Secretary that a significant number of midwives have been employed by the health board recently, but one can only wonder why such a huge staffing issue had been left to fill for so long. If they were 15 midwives short, why was that situation allowed to happen in the first place? 

And secondly, can he indicate at what level this reporting of incidents on the ward was not getting through the system so that events could be looked at and that each and every case could be looked at? Above all, I would hope—and I think I did hear the Cabinet Secretary correctly—that the review that he has commissioned will be looking at all areas of delivery and won't be stuck in very fixed terms of reference that the Minister might set out, but that the review board will have the ability to look at areas they deem necessary to complete their inquiry, so that we can have confidence that all areas of delivery have been looked into.