Restrictions In the Health Service

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 11:02 am on 15 July 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 11:02, 15 July 2020

Llywydd, I'm sorry, I just missed the very end of the question, but the points that were made in introducing the question are very real and important. All of us here will have heard from parents looking forward to the birth of a child and the additional pressure and indeed distress that they face because of the way that services have been provided during the crisis. But the answer as to why these restrictions have been in place is because of the particular vulnerability of people who are giving birth and the vulnerability of the new-born child; they've not been put in place for any reason other than to protect people's health. I can't give the Member, I'm afraid, a date in the way that she asks, because it won't be my decision; it will be the decision of clinicians, because it is the people who are in charge of the health of the mother and the baby who make the decisions here in Wales. And, when they are ready and they believe it is safe to do so, then of course they will want to lift some of those restrictions, because nobody wants to see them continue any longer than they need to.