Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 23 October 2019.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:43, 23 October 2019

I accept what the Minister says, of course, about not wanting to create artificial timelines, but I certainly know that if I was a woman of child-bearing age living in that region, I would want to know that there was a timeline and that at some point I could expect that service to be safe. 

I've received representations, and I know that other colleagues have, suggesting to me—well, proving to me—that the cultural issues, which again I accept can't be changed overnight, in Cwm Taf extend well beyond maternity services. I recently met a family who gave me evidence of grave issues regarding the treatment of both of their elderly parents separately in different parts of the Cwm Taf service over a period of a couple of years. Now, these issues raise similar themes as to some of the issues around women's experiences in the maternity service—issues around lack of respect, around not listening to patients and their families, lack of basic care, like supporting eating and drinking for older people. This family then went on to have a very unsatisfactory experience, again similar to some of those who used maternity services, of the complaints procedure. Can I ask the Minister today whether his current interventions that he has put in place in Cwm Taf will pick up wider concerns like these about culture within the organisation beyond maternity services? And does he accept that there may be a need for him to extend his intervention if such issues are made public?