Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:07 pm on 5 October 2021.
Thanks, Vikki. I know how much work you've done on behalf of so many of those people who have come forward explaining how they have been affected by this. Certainly, I am very aware of the pressures that the staff in Cwm Taf are already under. Staff across the whole of the NHS are under huge pressure, and I'm told that there's a COVID baby bounce going on as well, so the pressures are even greater than they normally are.
In terms of the long-term cultural change, it does give me some comfort to think that, despite the COVID pressures, actually they have still managed to deliver and change 55 of those 70 recommendations, and, more than that, to embed them. Now, there is still a long way to go. I think we've got to be absolutely clear about that. We are still a long way from being where we need to be in relation to maternity services in Cwm Taf, but I agree with you that, certainly in terms of the adverse impacts of smoking and blood pressure, there's more we can do in the broader sense of maternity health, where we need to encourage people to think about those things, and certainly one of the key issues that I'm concerned with at the moment is the number of women who are pregnant who have not been vaccinated. The number of people who are in hospital who are pregnant because they haven't been vaccinated is extremely worrying, and I would encourage all of those women who are pregnant in Wales at the moment to make sure that they get the vaccine. It will not harm you and it will not harm your baby.
Certainly, in terms of partners visiting, we've made it clear that, for the actual birth, the partner can be present, but the situation relating to visiting outside that depends on the situation locally when it comes to COVID rates.