Today, I want to thank you, Minister, for taking the correct step in commissioning an independent review of the maternity services in Cwm Taf, a review which must act as a fresh foundation in rebuilding greater faith in these important services. The fact that the Minister himself commissioned the independent review tells me what I need to know at this point.

I believe that, last October, the Minister took the action that was required in order to understand the problems in these maternity services, not an internal, inward-looking report, but a completely independent report of Government and of the health board that took decisive action that followed to place that service in special measures.

The message that I've heard most clearly is that the service must improve, so that other women do not experience what the independent review brought to light, and I would certainly want to add my voice to that. And we will expect that to happen, including dealing robustly with any individuals that are found to be responsible for failings.

And because of my concerns, I've taken the time myself over the last week or so to review and learn from this recent experience. I hope we've all done the same. It's important, as a review such as this does lead to some fundamental questioning. While I totally and fully accept all the issues of failure raised by families, I can honestly say that since my election in May 2016, I had no individual casework relating to Cwm Taf maternity services raised with me. That is until these recent months, when the independent review was announced and was in progress.

However, since the review started in October 2018, I have had direct contact with two constituents, and the view that I clearly heard from them was the need to improve the experience for those women using the services. Then, in January, as the independent review was in progress, I was one of several AMs that received an anonymous letter from some staff expressing their concerns, primarily about the management of the service. Together with at least one other AM colleague, I made the content of that letter known to the health board. And now that the independent review is complete, I will be following up those concerns to make sure that the issues raised in it have been adequately addressed, and I will expect that to include information on actions taken against anyone found to be responsible.

Last year, I wrote an entirely unrelated report on local health and care services in my constituency, a large part of which, of course, falls within the Cwm Taf health board area, and that report included a section on what we do when things go wrong. In the context of our health services, my thoughts at that point were that we need to be open about the mistakes, we need to review and learn the lessons, apologise and compensate where that is necessary, correct matters going forward, and ensure robust follow-up. 

Using my own words as a yardstick, then, it seems to me that the very important bit that we need to keep improving on is around openness about mistakes. As the independent report states, there are issues around culture that still need to be addressed, but as I wrote about the importance of robust follow-up, we need to look again at that. And as we review and learn, I know the public that I represent in Cwm Taf and those beyond will demand to be fully informed of the actions taken by this health board.

Finally, we will need the Minister's reassurance that there will be speedy notification about the progress being made, and I believe that we will get that reassurance. That is the responsibility upon the health Minister, and it is why I continue to have confidence in his leadership.