10. Will the Minister provide an update on work being undertaken to improve the provision of maternity services in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board area? OQ58687

Thank you very much. On 7 November, I issued a written statement providing an update on the considerable progress achieved by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in improving its maternity and neonatal services since 2019. The health board maintains focus on delivering further sustainable improvements in leadership, culture and service integration.

Thank you, Minister. The announcement that you would be de-escalating Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board's maternity and neonatal services from special measures was very welcome indeed. I think this was testament to the hard work that has gone in from health board staff to deliver the service improvements that the local community, mothers, babies and families, who need to access these services, should rightly be able to expect. In your statement, you noted delivering the culture change that is so critical is an ongoing but longer term piece of work. So, I'd like to ask: how will oversight of this be built into the targeted intervention for the health board's maternity and neonatal services? 

Thank you very much. I would like to congratulate the staff on the immense amount of work that has gone into turning this department around. It really is quite remarkable; the leadership has been really transformed. And I'd also like to pay tribute to the bravery of the mothers who've really helped us to consider what changes needed to be put in place. So, a huge thank you to them, and it really is—. Their loss, I'm afraid, is dreadful, but I hope that they will get some kind of comfort from the fact that, actually, those services are now being turned around. 

In relation to the cultural changes that are needed, they are, of course, undertaking a reorganisation within Cwm Taf Morgannwg at the moment. Improvement Cymru, as part of their intervention, will be undertaking particular support in this area, and this will be assessed through the targeted intervention monitoring framework. So, they've come out of special measures, but they're still in targeted intervention. So, that's where we really keep that oversight, and we will specifically make sure that that cultural shift, that was so important, really continues. 

I thank the Minister.