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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 9 October 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:57, 9 October 2018

Thank you for those, broadly, three questions. On the first point, I'm not aware that the proposed merger has had any impact on the delivery of services; it's not been a point that's been raised by anybody with concerns that, somehow, that's a factor in the quality of care and in this cluster of cases of concern. The serious incident reporting is what's led to us looking again at the cluster of cases, the number of them, the timeliness of reporting and the learning to be taken from those. There have been internal reviews of each of these, but, to look again to understand that, for this number clustered within the health board, we should take the opportunity to review matters now and not wait for a later point of reference. And that's why I've commissioned the independent review. That's why I've been clear in my statement and announcement today, and I think that the terms of reference will be broad enough for the two royal colleges, if they think it is necessary, to look further, because broadly this cluster of cases happened over a two-year period. If they wish to look back further, then they should have the ability to do so, and I'm certainly not looking to set either a timescale to prevent that or terms of reference to unnecessarily trammel what they would wish to review and look into, to provide us—as I said in answer to Angela Burns, Dawn Bowden and Rhun ap Iorwerth—with the sort of review and the sort of report that they're prepared to put the professional names of the two royal colleges to, to give the public the sort of confidence and reassurance that we would all want and, equally, to provide us with recommendations for further improvement and action, whether that is in this health board or, more broadly, across the whole healthcare system.