6. Will the First Minister provide an update on services to support women in Arfon who are affected by perinatal mental health problems? OQ58234

Thank you. Llywydd, recurrent investment of £3 million has allowed health boards across Wales to develop community perinatal mental health teams. Prevention and early intervention ensures that more women receive effective support as close to home as possible. In Arfon, this includes a specialist nurse, working as part of the wider perinatal mental health team.

Thank you very much. Next week, I will be co-sponsoring an event to mark the first anniversary of the unit for mothers and babies in the south, Uned Gobaith. As you know, this unit was opened in the middle of the pandemic, and it's faced challenges as a result of that, but, of course, it is developing to be a very valuable resource for women who experience mental health issues around the perinatal period.

One in four women can develop problems of this kind. I am therefore concerned about mothers in my constituency and across the north of Wales that there is no access to a specialist unit close to home for these mothers. Will you commit to develop specialist support in an appropriate location? You talk about a nurse, but we need an appropriate location for women in north Wales. Will you prioritise moving forward with the creation of this provision? It has been in the pipeline for some time. We need to see action. 

Well, thank you very much to Siân Gwenllian, and thank you to her for co-sponsoring the event next week. From everything that I've heard, the first year of the unit in Tonna Hospital has been very successful, and we're trying to draw lessons out of those experiences. Also, Llywydd, I understand the points that the Member makes about in-patient provision in north Wales, and much work has been done already by the specialist services committee on this issue.

Now, in order for an independent unit to operate, it would need to meet the standards required by the relevant royal colleges, and that includes the number of patients that would be required to sustain a specialist unit of this kind. That's what people in north Wales are currently discussing: can we establish a unit in north Wales where the royal colleges will be content to give their seal of approval for that to move forward? Those discussions are ongoing, and I know that all opportunities are being taken to accelerate the process of agreeing a range of practical proposals.