Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 15 June 2022.
Thank you very much, Buffy. As you rightly highlight, we all go into childbirth expecting to have a really blissfully happy experience, but, unfortunately, things can go wrong, there can be distressing experiences, and I know that you recognise that, as do I. It's really important that we put support in place. I'm grateful to you, as well, for your acknowledgement of the work that we've done already through establishing the mother and baby unit at Tonna Hospital, and also the perinatal mental health teams that are now operating throughout Wales.
Training, though, as you say, is absolutely vital, and it's vital that everybody who comes into contact with pregnant women or women in the perinatal period have that good understanding of perinatal mental health, because this is everybody's business. The perinatal mental health network that we have established is taking forward the development of a training framework for perinatal mental health, and it's also a priority area for HEIW too. You'll be pleased to know that HEIW have now completed the consultation on their mental health workforce plan, and will be setting forth, in due course, how they're going to take forward those issues.
Can I also take a moment just to place on record my thanks to the third sector organisations like the one that you've referred to, Mothers Matter? I was really struck, as Chair of the committee, by what absolutely crucial work the third sector is doing, often without being recognised by funding. I've been very clear with health boards that we want those third sector organisations to be treated as equal partners and considered to have the funding when it's made available. That's one of the things I'll be looking at when these bids come back to me, that they have actually worked in partnership with the third sector to ensure that they get a fair stab at accessing the funding.