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Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Heddiw, dwi'n falch o roi diweddariad i’r Aelodau ac i'r Siambr ar y cynnydd ledled Cymru i wella profiadau babanod a theuluoedd sy’n derbyn gofal newyddenedigol, a hynny drwy siarter babanod Bliss. Dyma arwydd o’n hymrwymiad parhaus i wasanaethau diogel, tosturiol a theg, sy’n canolbwyntio ar deuluoedd.

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Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Today, I am pleased to provide Members with an update on the progress being made across Wales to improve the experience of babies and families receiving neonatal care through the Bliss baby charter. This is a sign of our ongoing commitment to safe, compassionate and equitable services that are centred on families.

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Each year, around 2,800 premature and sick babies in Wales receive neonatal care. For many families, admission to a neonatal unit is one of the most fraught experiences they will ever have to face. Parents may spend weeks or months in hospital dealing with daily uncertainty about their baby's health while they balance travelling to and from the hospital, their job, any other caring responsibilities they have, their family life.  In those most difficult of circumstances, the care and support that families receive has a lasting impact. Parents need clear information, they need practical and emotional support, and they need to have meaningful opportunities to be involved in their baby's care. Parents should never be treated as visitors but as vital to the care team. Because parents know their baby. They provide comfort, reassurance and continuity, and they have an important role in those decisions about the baby's care. Supporting that relationship is at the heart of the Bliss baby charter and the principles of family integrated care. I'm so pleased to report that all neonatal units in Wales are now engaged with the charter, either having achieved bronze accreditation or more, or submitted themselves for assessment. The charter is a practical programme that helps services place babies and families at the heart of units. It supports parents to participate in ways that reflect their circumstances and wishes, including hands-on care, involvement in decisions, accessible information and help to remain close to their baby. The charter is not simply about achieving an accreditation award. It gives a structured framework for neonatal teams to recognise good practice, to identify gaps and to agree practical actions for improvement. It encourages services to use families' experiences to shape care and support.

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Ym mis Medi 2025, fe wnaeth Llywodraeth Cymru roi bron i £100,000 i Bliss ar gyfer sefydlu rhaglen gwella gwasanaethau newyddenedigol genedlaethol i Gymru. Ers hynny, mae pob uned newyddenedigol naill ai wedi cyflawni achrediad lefel efydd neu wedi cyflwyno tystiolaeth i’w hasesu o dan siarter babanod Bliss. Mae hon yn garreg filltir bwysig i’r gwasanaethau hyn yng Nghymru. Ond nid dyna ddiwedd yr hanes. Rydyn ni wedi gweld rhagor o gynnydd eto: mae un uned wedi cyflawni achrediad lefel arian yn barod, ac mae tair uned arall yn paratoi i gyflwyno cais am asesiad ar y lefel hon. Felly, mae ymrwymiad ein timau i wella’n barhaus yn gwbl amlwg. Maen nhw’n awyddus i sicrhau bod babanod a theuluoedd sy’n derbyn gofal ganddyn nhw yn cael profiad gwell.  Dros y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, mae Bliss wedi gweithio’n uniongyrchol gyda thimau mewn unedau dros Gymru gyfan. Mae unedau wedi cael cymorth i asesu eu sefyllfa yn erbyn safonau’r siarter, i gynnal adolygiadau ac archwiliadau, i nodi blaenoriaethau lleol, ac i ddatblygu camau ar gyfer gwella. Diolch i’r rhaglen, mae gan wasanaethau gyfle hefyd i rannu arferion da a’r hyn y maen nhw wedi ei ddysgu ar hyd y daith. Nawr, dyw pob uned ddim yn union yr un fath. Maen nhw’n amrywio o ran eu maint, maen nhw'n amrywio o ran y ddarpariaeth arbenigol sy’n cael ei chynnig ganddyn nhw, ac o ran eu cyfleusterau a’u hadnoddau, a’u staff. Maen nhw hefyd yn gwasanaethu gwahanol gymunedau. Mae’r siarter yn gosod uchelgais genedlaethol i bob uned ar y cyd, ond mae hi hefyd yn caniatáu i bob gwasanaeth yn unigol ganolbwyntio ar newidiadau a fydd yn gwneud y gwahaniaeth mwyaf yn lleol. Ni fyddai hyn yn bosibl heb ymroddiad staff yr unedau newyddenedigol ledled Cymru, a hoffwn i dalu teyrnged i ymrwymiad a gwaith caled y staff hynny. Bydd cyflawni’r rhaglen hon yn gofyn am arweinyddiaeth ac ymgysylltu parhaus, ochr yn ochr â’r pwysau dyddiol sy’n gysylltiedig â darparu gofal arbenigol. Mae nyrsys, meddygon, gweithwyr proffesiynol perthynol i iechyd, seicolegwyr, gweithwyr cymorth ac eraill yn gweithio gyda’i gilydd i roi mwy o bwyslais ar gynnwys teuluoedd wrth ddatblygu’r ddarpariaeth, a gwneud gwelliannau ystyrlon i ofal.

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In September 2025, the Welsh Government provided almost £100,000 to Bliss to establish a national neonatal service improvement programme for Wales. Since then, every neonatal unit has either achieved bronze-level accreditation or submitted evidence for assessment under the Bliss baby charter. This marks an important milestone for these services in Wales. However, that is not the end of the story. We have seen further progress: one unit has already achieved silver-level accreditation, and three other units are preparing to submit applications for assessment at this level. Therefore, the commitment of our teams to continuous improvement is abundantly clear. They are keen to ensure that the babies and families receiving their care have a better experience. Over the past year, Bliss has worked directly with teams in neonatal units across Wales. Units have received support to assess their position against the charter's standards, to carry out reviews and audits, identify local priorities, and develop actions for improvement. Thanks to the programme, services also have the opportunity to share good practice and lessons learned along the way. Now, not every unit is exactly the same. They vary in size, they vary in the specialist services they provide, and in their facilities, resources, and their staff. They also serve different communities. The charter sets out a national ambition for all units, a shared national ambition, and, at the same time, it allows each individual service to focus on the changes that will make the greatest difference locally. This would not be possible without the commitment of staff in these units across Wales, and I'd like to pay tribute to the commitment and hard work of those members of staff. Achievement of this programme requires strong leadership and continuous engagement, alongside the daily pressures associated with providing specialist care. Nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, psychologists, support workers and others are working together to place a greater emphasis on including and involving families in the development of services, and delivering meaningful improvements to care.

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And we know, of course, that some parents will face additional barriers to being close to or involved in their baby’s care. These could include distance from their home, financial pressures, work, other caring responsibilities, language and communication needs, disability or difficulties in accessing accommodation and practical support. Equity is therefore central to the national programme. Bliss is developing bilingual resources, improving access to information and support for families in Wales, with particular attention to minority ethnic communities and areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. This will help services consider not only whether support is available, but whether every family can understand, can access and can benefit from that support.

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Mae siarter babanod Bliss yn cefnogi’r datganiad ansawdd ar gyfer gwasanaethau mamolaeth a newyddenedigol. Hwn sydd yn amlinellu ein gweledigaeth genedlaethol, sef darparu gofal diogel a theg sy’n canolbwyntio ar yr unigolyn. Argymhelliad y datganiad ansawdd yw y dylai byrddau iechyd ddilyn safonau’r siarter. Mae hefyd yn cydnabod bod gwrando ar brofiadau teuluoedd, a’u cynnwys, yn gwbl sylfaenol i sicrhau ansawdd a diogelwch.  Mae’r gwelliannau sy’n deillio o’r rhaglen hon yn rhan o’n hymateb ehangach, wrth gwrs, i argymhellion adroddiad 'Y llwybr tuag at ddechrau mwy diogel yng Nghymru'. Mae’r gwaith hwnnw yn cadarnhau pwysigrwydd sicrhau trefniadau arweinyddiaeth genedlaethol gyson a llywodraethiant effeithiol. Mae hefyd yn cadarnhau pa mor bwysig yw hi ein bod ni wir yn gwrando ar deuluoedd, gan barhau i ganolbwyntio ar ddiogelwch, ansawdd a thegwch.

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The Bliss baby charter supports the quality statement for maternity and neonatal services. This sets out our national vision of providing safe, equitable and person-centred care. The quality statement recommends that health boards should follow the standards of the Bliss baby charter. It also recognises that listening to families' experiences, and involving them, is fundamental to ensuring quality and safety. The improvements arising from this programme form part, of course, of our wider response to the recommendations set out in 'The path to safer beginnings in Wales' report. That work reinforces the importance of ensuring consistent national leadership arrangements and effective governance. It also confirms how important it is that we genuinely listen to families, while maintaining a strong focus on safety, quality and equity.

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Now, while today is an opportunity to recognise progress, the work is not complete. Bronze accreditation is an important foundation, but accreditation must not become an end point. Lasting improvement will depend on units continuing to listen to families, to review their practices, to measure the impact of any changes, and to build on what they have achieved. We have therefore secured continued funding throughout this financial year to further embed the national programme, to support units as they progress through the charter, and to strengthen the sustainability of improvements across health boards.  During the next phase, Bliss will continue to provide tailored support to neonatal teams and strengthen access to bilingual information for families. Lessons from the programme will build an understanding of where individual units may require further assistance to meet the needs of their local population, and where common barriers may require national action. We will continue to expect clear evidence of progress. Now, as I've said, success cannot be judged solely by whether accreditation is awarded. It must be seen and felt in the experiences of babies and families—whether parents feel welcomed, informed and respected on the ward, whether they can participate in their baby’s care, and whether services listen and respond when families point out that things need to change. I am really grateful to Bliss for their partnership and their expertise, and to neonatal teams across Wales for their ongoing commitment. Most importantly, though, I thank the parents and families who've shared their experiences and helped to shape this programme for the sake of other families in the future. Their honesty and insight have been invaluable, so too has been their bravery. I am indebted to them and I thank them. Dirprwy Lywydd, every baby that is born prematurely or is unwell when they’re born deserves the best possible care, and every family deserves to be treated with dignity and compassion. The progress being seen through the Bliss baby charter shows what can be achieved when families, clinicians, health boards, the third sector and Government work together with a shared purpose. Now, we remain committed to supporting neonatal services across Wales to continue this journey to deliver the highest standards of care. Our ambition is clear that neonatal services in Wales should be clinically safe and effective, compassionate and equitable, and genuinely designed around the needs of babies and their families. Diolch.

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Diolch, Catherine. Welcome to your role. The work that is being carried out in neonatal units across Wales is indeed, well, absolutely life-changing. I think it would do us all good to pause and reflect on the phenomenal work that is happening across Wales right at this moment to save babies' lives. So, thank you for highlighting that. As you said—I was struck by your phrase—it becomes their entire world, that unit, exactly. We need to be making sure that those units, the environment that families and that parents are in, are welcoming, that they are comfortable and that families feel that it's not a hindrance for them to be there, that they are central to the whole thing. How this is rolled out in different units will vary because, of course, there are lots of different reasons why there will be local considerations. But, fundamentally, it's about making sure that parents and families feel that they are part of care, and I can go through some of the practical examples of how that can be done. You asked me about what exactly the situation is with different units, and I'm happy to provide the current position. So, all nine neonatal units in Wales are now engaged with the process, as I said. At present, Singleton Hospital and Wrexham Maelor Hospital have achieved silver accreditation. Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Glangwili, the Princess of Wales Hospital, Prince Charles Hospital, the Grange University Hospital and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd have achieved bronze accreditation. The University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff has achieved pledge status and is working towards the bronze accreditation. Obviously, this is a staged improvement programme. You asked earlier about the possibility—and I hope that this will happen, indeed—that we will be seeing units progressing to gold and platinum status as well. That has to be our ambition, because our babies deserve nothing less than excellence in this. So, yes, I will absolutely be pushing to make sure—. Obviously, this is a matter that health boards will be monitoring, but anything that we can do nationally to be making sure that excellence is pushed for at all costs, then, yes, of course that is something that we will be very keen to look into. You mentioned the situation across the UK and that there are other places across the UK where gold and platinum have been achieved. Of course, this is a UK-wide programme. It has developed at different rates across nations, and the flip side of it, I suppose, is the fact that all neonatal units in Wales being engaged with the programme puts us, in some ways, in a better position than other nations. But we cannot be complacent about that at all. We have to make sure that these units progress through that journey. And when a unit has had that accreditation, that doesn't mean that accreditation has to stay; they have to be continually reassessed to make sure that the improvements are continuous and that they are consistent for families. You asked as well about keeping families together, and absolutely that is really important. I'll just share some of the practical examples of how units that have achieved the bronze accreditation and are moving further through the charter can do this. There are wards and units that have made it easier for parents to spend time with their baby with more flexible visiting arrangements, but some wards have actually introduced reclining chairs in the wards so that parents can stay as well. Absolutely, I'm really interested in the points that you made about accommodation, making that easier as well, and signposting to psychological support. All of these different components are going to be so vitally important. You said in closing that this is only going to be effective if families know that it exists. Absolutely, because what is the point of having something that is available if it doesn't benefit the families and the parents that need it? So, we need to be making certain, and this needs to be constantly monitored to make sure that this isn't just something that is signposted, but that people know it, it's on a Post-it. It's like the Call for Concern statement that I made a couple of weeks ago now, and those two elements are going to be working together really closely too. We have to be making sure that these environments are supportive, welcoming and lead to better care, so thank you so much.

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Diolch, Jayne, for those questions. I know this is something really close to your heart, as well. Indeed, as you say, and it is right to put that on the record again, the work that was undertaken by the previous Government on this was foundationally important here, and I'm really proud to be continuing with that work. I think it was an incredibly valuable foundation that was laid there. Of course, we want to go further than that. You asked, firstly, about funding. Now, as I've set out, for the second year, there is £52,000 that's been provided to support the implementation of Bliss in health boards. In terms of future funding, that is being considered as part of the broader maternity, neonatal programme planning and spending decisions, and this is clearly doing a lot of really good work, so I would be very open-minded to that, indeed. And I think we as a Government would be very open-minded to it, because we are committed to supporting improvements in maternity and neonatal services. So, that is something that we're keeping under very close review. In terms of what you had asked about different units and making sure that they're being supported to go further with the accreditation journey, that is something that absolutely has to be happening, because accreditation on its own is a milestone, but it's not an end point. And we need to make sure that it's a staged improvement programme, as I've said, and that's something that our NHS partners are going to be working really closely with different units, with different health boards on, to support that. It's something I'm going to be keeping a really close eye on as well. In terms of accommodation, as Catherine raised as well, already, I want to be making sure that any family, regardless of their circumstances, will be able to be involved in their baby's care. So, however we can be encouraging there to be initiatives to make sure that accommodation is part of this, of course it's something I'd be really interested in being involved in. And I would implore Members, if you are aware of circumstances where that has become a barrier, please write to me about it, because I think we need to see where—. Fundamental to Bliss is seeing where the gaps are, so it's about what can be done in the units themselves, but it's also about wider provision. So, please write to me if you see that there are gaps like that that are emerging. Thank you, as well, for talking about the early conversations pilots—something that I know, again, is really close to your heart. As I've confirmed before, we will be implementing 'The path to safer beginnings in Wales' report's recommendations in full and that will be over a period of time. Obviously, there are some that will have to be done at a much greater pace because of their urgency, but each of those recommendations are going to be implemented in full. You asked about the situation with midwifery, and I really recognise the significant workforce pressures that are being experienced across midwifery, maternity, neonatal and wider children's services. This is something that the Cabinet Minister and I, each of us, are really concerned about, and it is weighing heavily on us. We are encouraging health boards to maximise all opportunities, because, of course, we expect health boards to take all reasonable steps to maintain safe standards, to support staff, to ensure that workforce planning arrangements respond to current and future service needs. It's something that we are keeping under really close review. Finally, thank you for raising perinatal mental health. It's something that was very, very close to the heart of my predecessor in this role, Steffan Lewis. Again, if you or other Members are—. It's something I'm really passionate about, making sure that the support is there for mothers across Wales, so if you are noticing any gaps in provision, please write to me so that we can arrange— .  And I make that offer, please, to Members across the Chamber, because it's something that we have to get right. Diolch, Jayne.

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Diolch, Natasha, and as you said at the start, it is an emotive area, and I really welcome the fact that there is cross-party support for the principles here. Of course, in terms of how it is rolled out in terms of how the accreditation progresses, all of you in the Chamber will want to be as fervently as me checking to see that that continues to progress, because this is something, as I say, we can't afford not to get right. That was an awkwardly phrased sentence, but this is something that is so important. As you said earlier too, I can't begin to imagine what it is like. There will be people in this Chamber and there will be people watching who have been through this. It is incumbent on all of us to make sure to take every action so that some of the most difficult moments in a person's life, in a parent's life, will be filled with compassion, with love, with support, with practical actions. There's nothing that can make that magically better, but each of the—. I'll go through again some of the steps that hospitals can take in supporting skin-to-skin care, which is sometimes known as kangaroo care—I love that—it can help support bonding, improving parental confidence, contribute positively to a baby's development. It's making sure that there's support there for feeding, for comfort care, for routine care, so that when the transition happens and when a baby is able to go home, the parents can feel supported and can feel more ready and more confident that they will know what steps they need to take every day to take care of their precious baby. In terms of communication, regular updates, you had raised again about accommodation. There's a reason why the same themes are coming up time and again. These are the things that are most vitally important to parents across Wales. We cannot afford to have a situation where families are facing these additional barriers. So, again, please, I would ask Members: when you come across examples, if there are examples of where this is not working well, please tell me, so that we can see what else can be done with this. You asked as well about future funding. Again, it is committed for this financial year. My colleague the finance Minister is in her place. I will not incur her wrath by speculating about future budgets, but it is something that we want to take—. We need, of course, to see how this works—[Interruption.] Yes, I name-checked you there. We need to make sure that we see how this roll-out keeps progressing. Again, there will be variations in different localities. I want to empower these units to be able to keep going on this journey on their own. We need to make sure—

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—eu bod nhw'n cael eu grymuso—

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—that they are empowered—

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—and that they have those tools at their disposal to be able to do this. But of course, if we see that there is a need for us to consider that further, of course that's something we'd be open to. I can't know exactly how this is going to roll out in the future, but it's something, of course, we're going to be keeping really closely in mind. In terms of the psychological support, that is really vitally important. I've lost my place. I don't know which were your points and which were Jayne's. But in terms of making sure that when parents leave the units there is specialist psychological care available for them, this will be true regardless of what has happened with their baby. It can be a deeply traumatic—I can only imagine—experience for parents to come close to losing a baby as well, so they will need that wraparound care, and there's fantastic work that is happening across Wales. It's something that we really need to make sure that we're getting right. Diolch. If I have inadvertently missed one of your questions, please could you write to me? I didn't mean to. [Interruption.] Okay.

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Ocê, ac i fi fod yn gryno, dwi'n cymryd, hefyd.

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Okay, and for me to be succinct too, I would imagine.

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Sorry, but awkwardly with the Chamber, I have to have my back to you when I'm answering you. Thank you, Sara, for sharing Chloe and Theo's story with the Chamber. We all know that neonatal admission can have that really lasting psychological effect and impact on parents and families. As has been raised by, I think, every Member so far in the Chamber, psychological support is a really vitally important component. That's why we've commissioned an independent evaluation of the Onnen service. That includes recommendations relating to neonatal workforce models and the contribution of specialist allied health professionals, including psychological services. That evaluation will help inform our understanding of current provision and future workforce requirements across Wales. Through the Bliss baby charter, we need to be looking again—this is something that many Members have raised—at the wider needs of families, emotional well-being, and making sure that people are signposted to support. Workforce deployment, of course, remains an operational matter for health boards, but we will continue to work closely with NHS Wales, health boards and partner organisations, including Bliss, to better understand again where those gaps are, to make sure that we make the improvements that we have to and that we need to.

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Janet, I am so sorry for the experience that you have just talked about in your family, and I think the thoughts of everyone in the Chamber will be with your family. I really hope everything will be all right. You also mentioned the incredibly distressing incident that's occurred at Bangor pier. I echo what you said. It is an extremely sad, extremely distressing situation. My thoughts, and I think the thoughts of everyone in the Chamber, are going to be with everyone who is affected by this. It is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, so I wouldn't be able to comment further on the specific circumstances, but the Welsh Government is being kept informed as the situation develops. Our immediate focus is on supporting everyone affected and allowing the investigating agencies the time and the space to establish the facts of an incredibly distressing incident. I agree with you; in terms of Bliss, there is a long way still for us to go, of course. I am determined that we have to see continued progress. We and I will work with all health boards to do everything we can to make sure of that.

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Diolch, Claire, for that. Indeed, in terms of the challenges that are going to be there for longer travel times for rural communities, as I said earlier, no two units will be the same, no two localities will be the same, and equity is a really important component of this, making sure that the different needs of different communities, and different communities within those communities too, are going to be addressed, and again, looking at socioeconomic disadvantage as well, looking at longer travel distances, looking at ethnic minority communities, looking at different languages, different accessibility requirements, accommodation—all of these components need to be working and need to be available to units where they're needed. In terms of celebrating the highlights, as you have just done, I think that that is fantastic, and thank you so much for putting that on the record. We need to be making sure that, again—and this theme keeps coming up—accreditation is not an end point. The way that Bliss is structured encourages units to be progressing further through. And also, if progress isn't sustained, then accreditation can be lost. So, we need to make sure that this isn't just making sure that we get the base level of accreditation. But I want to be in a Wales where every unit is excelling, and of course that's what we should be aiming for.

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Diolch yn fawr iawn, Mair, am rannu eich stori chi. Rydw i'n falch iawn i glywed bod y gofal roeddech chi wedi'i gael a'ch teulu wedi'i gael mor gefnogol i chi. Mae yna nifer o heriau rydych chi wedi sôn amdanyn nhw yn fanna o ran dewis iaith, o ran y ffaith roedd eich partner chi'n dal i weithio. Gallaf i ond dychmygu pa mor anodd oedd hwnna, felly dwi wir yn ddiolchgar i chi am rannu hynna gyda ni. Ond, fel roeddech chi'n dweud, pan mae hyn yn gweithio'n dda, bydd teuluoedd a rhieni yn cael eu cynnwys yng ngofal eu plentyn. Mae angen inni sicrhau bod—. Beth dŷn ni angen ei wneud yw cysoni hyn a sicrhau bod profiadau teuluoedd dros Gymru'r un mor gadarnhaol, achos bydd profiadau teuluoedd yn siapio fel mae hyn yn digwydd. Mae'n rhaid inni fod yn gwrando ar deuluoedd ac mae'n rhaid inni gymryd y feedback yna gan deuluoedd pan mae problemau'n digwydd er mwyn sicrhau bod prosesau a systemau a phobl yn dysgu o hynny, achos dylai pob teulu gael yr un gofal. Diolch, Mair.

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Thank you very much, Mair, for sharing your own story. I'm delighted to hear that the care that you and your family received was so supportive of your needs. There are a number of challenges that you've referred to there in terms of language of choice, the way your partner had to continue to work. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been, so I'm grateful to you for sharing that with us. But, as you said, when this works well, families and parents will be included in the care of their child. We need to ensure—. What we need to do is ensure consistency in this area and ensure that the experiences of families across Wales are just as positive, because family experience will shape how this works. We have to listen to families and we have to take that feedback from families when problems occur in order to ensure that processes, systems and people learn from those experiences, because every family should have the same care. Thank you, Mair.

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Diolch, Cristiana, for that, and what you described there in terms of the expectation and the hope that every mother will have, that this will be the moment that she has dreamt of, and the gap between that and what some mothers then go through and the really desperately painful reality that they would have to face, and what Mair had described a moment ago as well, about their baby being in an incubator on another ward and being surrounded by other mothers with their own babies, and emphasising that gap. I think that the design of wards is really fundamental here, and having that compassion built into how they are designed. Absolutely, no parent should ever feel like a visitor in their child's care, in their baby's care. As I've said earlier, this will only be deemed to be successful, by me or by anyone in this Chamber, if it leads to families feeling welcomed. And I know that's something very difficult. Of course, there are things that we can measure; they are the practical things that I've set out about how we can—. And it's very specific; I think there are more than 120 accreditation criteria that Bliss go through. But it's also about making sure that the experience of families has materially changed, that families feel part of care. So, it's, of course, about the criteria that you can put down on a piece of paper, but it's more than that too. So, thank you so much.

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Thank you so much for raising that really, really important point and for sharing those stories as well, because it is by sharing lived experiences that we need to see where things are going well and where people's lives have been materially improved. So, thank you so much for sharing that. Evidently—. And I know that you'll appreciate that commissioning is for local health boards, but of course it's something that we're keeping a really close eye on, because Cerebral Palsy Cymru is doing such fantastic work and changing people's lives. So, it's something that we're keeping a really close eye on, and I really value the fact that you've raised that today in the Chamber. Thank you so much.

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Diolch, Jane, ac, yn gyntaf, diolch am eich cefnogaeth chi hefyd. Mae fe'n codi calon bod yna feysydd fel hyn sydd yn uno pob person yn y Siambr yma, achos dŷn ni i gyd eisiau sicrhau dyfodol gwell i'n babanod ni. Felly, diolch am hwnna. O ran gweithlu arbenigol a sicrhau bod y sgiliau ieithyddol, fel roeddech chi wedi sôn amdanynt, ar gael, mae fe'n rhywbeth ar gyfer y byrddau iechyd, iddyn nhw sicrhau eu hunain. Ond dwi'n meddwl bod hwnna yn codi cwestiwn rili pwysig, felly buaswn i'n gofyn i chi—. Pe byddech chi'n fodlon ysgrifennu ataf i, efallai y bydden ni'n gallu cael sgwrs bellach am hwnna, achos mae fe'n rhywbeth dwi eisiau—. Dwi'n ceisio meddwl sut i ddweud hyn yn Saesneg.

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Thank you, Jane, and, first of all, thank you for your support. It's heartening that there are areas like this that unify everyone in this Chamber, because we all want to ensure a better future for our babies. So, thanks for that. In terms of a specialist workforce and ensuring that the linguistic skills, as you mentioned, are available, this is something for the health boards to ensure themselves. But I think that that does raise some important questions, so I'd ask you—. If you would be willing to write to me, maybe we could have a further conversation about that, because that's something—. I'm trying to think about how to say this in English.

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I want to reassure myself that every step is being taken—

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—gyda hwnna. Felly, buaswn i'n ei werthfawrogi pe byddech chi'n gallu ysgrifennu, ac yna y bydden ni'n gallu cael sgwrs bellach. Fel dwi'n dweud, mae fe'n fater ar gyfer byrddau iechyd, ond bydden ni i gyd eisiau sicrhau bod pob cam yn cael ei gymryd. Felly, diolch, Jane.

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—with that one. So, I'd appreciate it if you could write to me, and then we could have a further conversation. As I said, this is an issue for the health boards, but all of us would want to ensure that every action is taken. So, thank you.

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Diolch yn fawr iawn, Becca, and I'm sorry again I have to have my back to you when I'm answering, because of where the microphone is. I really appreciate how Members have shared both their own experiences with me and with the Chamber today, and also the experiences of constituents. I really am grateful to all of those constituents too for being willing to have their stories shared. I know that that is no small thing, and you have enriched our understanding, you have enriched our proceedings here this afternoon, and we are all so grateful to you, and we all send our very best wishes to you. In terms of Alexia and Maya's experiences, of course parents need to remain close to their baby, and that is a key principle of everything we've been talking about. It's a key principle of the Bliss baby charter. Of course, access to accommodation is something that has come up from a number of Members in how it can vary. Claire had raised this as well. It can vary across different services, different parts of Wales, it can create that additional stress and financial pressure for families when they least can cope with that. As I say, neonatal units are being encouraged to review how they are supporting family presence and participation in care, including practical issues like accommodation, particularly, again, for families who need to travel that extra distance. We as a Government will continue to work with Bliss and health boards and families to understand where those barriers remain—again, I encourage Members to write to me if you see those gaps emerging—and where further improvements might be needed, because no family should face any avoidable obstacle at this most difficult time.

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Diolch, Darren. Those are really important questions. In terms of the situation in north Wales and still having to transfer babies across the border, that is something that my colleague Mabon would be leading on, but I'm really happy to have a conversation with him about that, because, obviously, that's something that we need to be taking very, very seriously. So, I'm very happy to take that up with Mabon as the Cabinet Minister. On baby loss certificates, I'm really glad that this has come up. It's something that, as you know, I feel very passionately about. I want very much for us to be in a position in Wales where we can deliver bilingual baby loss certificates in a way that is safe, in a way that is sustainable. We are looking into how this can be done at the moment. We're in a different situation from England or Scotland, because we don't have our own national records service. And Northern Ireland has decided to go down a different route, where they're not having the same layers of verification. And I want to make sure, and officials want to make sure—and this is what we're looking into—that there wouldn't be unintended consequences from doing something like that. We want to make sure that baby loss certificates are delivered in a way that the right people are getting the right certificates, because, of course, that is so sensitive. But it is something that I pledge to you, I promise, I care deeply about. And so it is something we are looking at very carefully and very urgently. So, diolch, Darren. I really appreciate that you brought that up.

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I'm sorry that we've gone over.

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Everyone's questions were important.

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Dwi'n cynnig yn ffurfiol.

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I formally move.

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Diolch, Lywydd. Dwi'n ddiolchgar i bob Aelod sydd wedi cyfleu rhai profiadau eithriadol o bersonol y prynhawn yma.

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Thank you, Llywydd. I'm grateful to all Members who have talked about their personal experiences this afternoon.

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Thank you to all Members who've shared either their own experiences or family experiences. I would thank Paul for sharing the terrible—. Paul has gone out, but I will still put on the record the horrendous experience of his daughter, and the thoughts of everyone in the Chamber will of course be with her. I'm very grateful to him for sharing that.

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Mae'r ddadl hon yn ymdrin â rhai o'r niweidiau mwyaf difrifol, mwyaf erchyll mae plentyn yn gallu eu profi. Mae cam-drin plant yn rhywiol a chamfanteisio rhywiol ar blant yn gallu cael effaith ddofn a gydol oes ar bob agwedd ar fywyd person. Maen nhw'n gallu effeithio ar addysg, perthnasoedd, cyflogaeth, iechyd corfforol, iechyd meddwl a llesiant unigolyn ymhell i'w fywyd fel oedolyn. Rhaid i'r rhai sy'n cyflawni y troseddau hyn gael eu dal i gyfrif. Mae pob dioddefwr a goroeswr yn haeddu cyfiawnder a chymorth.

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This debate deals with some of the most serious harms, the most horrific harms a child can experience. Child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation can have a profound and lifelong impact on every aspect of a person's life. These issues can affect education, relationships, employment, physical health, mental health and well-being of an individual well into adulthood. Those who commit these crimes must be held to account. All victims and survivors deserve justice and help.

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Before I go further, Llywydd, I want to acknowledge the courage of victims and survivors whose experiences continue to shape our understanding of abuse and exploitation and drive improvements across our safeguarding systems. I am in awe of your bravery, and I am committed to ensuring that your voices are heard and that your experiences continue to drive change. The motion before us notes the recent rise in convictions relating to sexual exploitation by grooming gangs in Wales and states that all Welsh victims deserve justice. On that principle, there should be no disagreement in this Chamber. I would counter that it is not enough. Justice usually means a moment in time where people who have done awful things are held to account. That is vitally important. But in and of itself, it is not a deliverance. Survivors need the right support at the right time throughout their life and more than just that moment. That is why our amendment has added that crucial component of support. The Government amendment further recognises that Wales falls within the scope of the statutory independent inquiry into grooming gangs, which has been established on an England and Wales basis. This Government is committed to considering carefully any findings and recommendations relating to Wales, and to progressing any necessary action with the utmost urgency. The amendment also reaffirms this Government's commitment to addressing child sexual abuse through the national strategy for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in Wales 2026-2036, published in March this year, including implementing actions set out in its delivery plan. Vital work has been undertaken in this area, building on the foundations that were laid previously, and the Government is engaging proactively with the inquiry. I hear the concerns raised around the Chamber—I hear them. We are undertaking and continuing official engagement, but I also have a forthcoming meeting with Baroness Longfield, and I will be raising these points. The inquiry has begun announcing areas for local investigation, as we've heard, and we do expect further areas to be announced as its work progresses. Wales already falls within the scope of the statutory inquiry, which can undertake detailed local investigations where the evidence warrants it. Indeed, as I say, I will be reinforcing the need for Wales to be considered fully when I meet the Baroness. In terms of the motion, there are things we needed to add, like that point I was making about the support as well as justice, and recognising what this Government is doing. Participation in a wider England and Wales inquiry also provides an opportunity to identify the trends and patterns of abuse that do not respect national borders.

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Bydd dysgu gwersi o’r ymchwiliad hwn yn hanfodol, ond mae hefyd yn bwysig iawn ein bod yn ymateb i realiti heddiw. Dyw’r plant sy’n wynebu risg heddiw ddim yn gallu aros am gasgliadau’r ymchwiliad. Ochr yn ochr â’n gwaith ar gyfer yr ymchwiliad, dŷn ni’n gwneud llawer o waith i gryfhau trefniadau diogelu ar draws Cymru, a bydd Aelodau yn clywed rhagor am hynny yn ystod yr wythnosau nesaf. Rwy'n edrych ymlaen at gyflwyno hynny. Mae’r Ceidwadwyr Cymreig wedi cyflwyno gwelliant yn galw am ymchwiliad Cymru gyfan ac ar wahân i faterion wedi’u datganoli. Dwi’n deall y bwriad tu ôl i’r cynnig—dwi yn deall hynny. Mae’n bwysig ei gwneud yn glir, fel dwi wedi dweud, bod yr ymchwiliad ar gyfer Lloegr a Chymru. Mae Cymru’n rhan ganolog o’i gylch gwaith. Mae gan yr ymchwiliad y gallu i gynnal ymchwiliadau lleol yng Nghymru, ac mae’n cydnabod y cyfrifoldebau sydd wedi’u datganoli ac sydd ddim wedi'u datganoli. Roeddech chi'n sôn am ymgynghoriad COVID, a dwi'n meddwl mai dyna ydy'r gwahaniaeth mawr, oherwydd roedd hynna'n ymwneud â'r gwasanaeth iechyd yn bennaf, ac mae hwnna dan orchwyl Llywodraeth Cymru. Dyna'r gwahaniaeth—[Torri ar draws.] Mae Darren eisiau dod i mewn.

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Learning lessons from this inquiry will be essential, but it's also very important that we respond to today's reality. The children who are at risk today can't wait for the conclusions of the inquiry. Alongside our work for the inquiry, we are doing a lot of work to strengthen safeguarding arrangements across Wales, and Members will hear more about that in the coming weeks. I look forward very much to bringing that forward.   The Welsh Conservatives have tabled an amendment calling for an all-Wales and separate inquiry for devolved issues. I understand the intention that is behind that proposal—I do understand that. It's important to clarify, as I've said, that the inquiry is for England and Wales, but Wales is a central part of its remit. The inquiry has the ability to conduct local investigations in Wales, and it recognises the responsibilities that are devolved and that are not devolved. You were talking about the COVID inquiry, and I think that's the big difference, because that related to the health service predominantly, and that comes under the Welsh Government's remit. That is the difference—[Interruption.] Darren wants to come in.

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Llywydd, I hope you will keep in mind later that I did allow that lengthy intervention, which is, of course, something of fundamental importance here. The nuance here—and nuances are vitally important—is that the COVID inquiry, in terms of the focus of its attention, was going to be on devolved issues. A great deal of the focus here would be something outside of our control, and we want to make sure that this work is centred around not just the experiences of victims at the time, but the experiences of survivors today, and not re-traumatising them by duplicating work, which is why we don't want to—. But again, I fundamentally see the importance, the vital importance, that Wales is fully at the centre of this. It is a point that I will be reinforcing when I meet the Baroness.

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Os gallaf ffeindio lle'r oeddwn i nawr.

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If I can find where I was now.

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Well, I will repeat, because this bears repetition, if I have already got to this point: child sexual exploitation does not stop at national borders. Understanding the full picture requires evidence to be examined across the range of agencies involved in safeguarding, education, health, policing and criminal justice too. Not all of those are, of course, devolved to us in Wales. What will, what must make children safer is acting on evidence, identifying risks earlier, strengthening safeguarding practice and ensuring that survivors receive the trauma-informed support that they need. Now, the 'Strategy for Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse in Wales 2026-2036' explicitly includes action to prevent, identify and respond to group-based sexual exploitation, including grooming gangs. Together with its delivery plan, it sets out a clear ambition that all children in Wales should live free from the harm of child sexual abuse, and that everyone affected by abuse is protected and supported throughout their lives. That is the ambition. We must deliver it, because, collectively, we need to do more and do it better. That is on all of us.

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Mi fydd angen dull gweithredu system gyfan, gan ddod â gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, partneriaid diogelu, cymunedau a goroeswyr at ei gilydd. Mi fyddwn ni’n rhoi fframwaith hyfforddi cenedlaethol ar waith, yn cryfhau cymorth i ymarferwyr a goroeswyr, ac yn gwella gwasanaethau ledled Cymru. Ym mis Medi yn unig, daeth mwy na 400 o weithwyr proffesiynol o bob cwr o Gymru a phartneriaid ac arbenigwyr diogelu at ei gilydd i gryfhau gwybodaeth, gwella ymarfer a hybu’r gwaith o weithredu’r strategaeth. Ar ddechrau’r flwyddyn nesaf, mi fydd ymgyrch codi ymwybyddiaeth genedlaethol flynyddol yn cael ei lansio i helpu pobl i adnabod arwyddion o gam-drin a deall y camau y gallan nhw eu cymryd. Oherwydd mae diogelu yn fusnes i bawb. Er bod plismona a chyfiawnder troseddol yn parhau i fod yn faterion a gedwir yn ôl, rŷn ni’n gweithio’n agos gyda phartneriaid ar draws gwasanaethau cyhoeddus i atal niwed, lleihau troseddu ac adeiladu cymunedau mwy diogel ledled Cymru. Mae’r gwaith hwn hefyd yn cyd-fynd â’n hymrwymiad ehangach i atal trais, cam-drin a chamfanteisio ac i greu cymunedau mwy diogel ledled Cymru. Mi fyddwn ni’n cyhoeddi strategaeth newydd ar drais yn erbyn menywod, cam-drin domestig a thrais rhywiol yn ystod yr haf flwyddyn nesaf. Yn gynharach eleni, fe wnes i rannu fy mlaenoriaethau â’r Senedd. Mae cryfhau trefniadau diogelu i amddiffyn plant ac oedolion sy’n wynebu risg yn dal i fod yn un o’m prif flaenoriaethau. Rhaid i leisiau plant fod yn ganolog i benderfyniadau diogelu, gan gynnwys pan fo pryderon yn bodoli ond dyw'r plentyn ddim wedi datgelu hynny’n ffurfiol. Rydyn ni wedi ymrwymo i gyflwyno dyletswyddau newydd o ran rhoi gwybod am gam-drin plant yn rhywiol, cryfhau safonau diogelu a sicrhau bod gwersi o bryderon diogelu yn arwain at welliant ledled Cymru. Yn ystod yr wythnosau nesaf, bydd yr Aelodau yn cael clywed rhagor am sut rŷn ni’n bwriadu cyflawni’r ymrwymiadau hynny ar lawr y Senedd.

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We will need a whole-system approach, bringing public services, safeguarding partners, communities and survivors together. We will implement a national training framework, strengthen support for practitioners and survivors, and improve services across Wales. In September alone, more than 400 professionals from all over Wales came together with partners and safeguarding experts to strengthen knowledge, improve practice and promote the implementation of the strategy. At the beginning of next year, an annual national awareness campaign will be launched to help people recognise the signs of abuse and to understand the steps that they can take. Because safeguarding is everyone's business. Although policing and criminal justice remain reserved issues, we work closely with partners across public services to prevent harm, reduce crime and build safer communities across Wales. This work is also in line with our wider commitment to preventing violence, abuse and exploitation and to creating safer communities across Wales. We will publish a new strategy on violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence during the summer of 2027. Earlier this year, I shared my priorities with the Senedd. Strengthening safeguarding arrangements to protect children and adults who are at risk is still one of my main priorities. Children's voices must be central to safeguarding decisions, including where concerns exist but the child has not formally disclosed that. We are committed to introducing new duties in terms of reporting child sexual abuse, strengthening safeguarding standards and ensuring that lessons from safeguarding concerns lead to improvements throughout Wales. During the next few weeks, Members will be able to hear more about how we intend to fulfil those commitments on the floor of the Senedd.

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Llywydd, safeguarding is fundamental to the Wales we want to be. It will continue to be central to this Government's wider ambitions. The Government amendment recognises the seriousness, the terrible seriousness, of these crimes. It recognises that victims and survivors deserve justice and support. It recognises that Wales is within the scope of the statutory inquiry and it commits us—it commits us—to considering carefully any findings and recommendations relating to Wales, and progressing any necessary action. But importantly, it also focuses on the actions needed to make children safer today. Recent cases we've seen in Wales demonstrate that the responsibility to improve safeguarding, to improve children's lives, begins now. That is why we're strengthening safeguarding arrangements across Wales. That is why safeguarding remains one of my central priorities as Deputy Minister. Because every child deserves to grow up safely. Every victim and survivor deserves to be heard, to be supported, to be treated with dignity. That is the Wales we want, a Wales where children are safer, where abuse is identified earlier, a Wales where survivors receive the support they need throughout their lives, a Wales where survivors receive what they need, where safeguarding arrangements are strong, are effective, are trusted. It is the Wales we must build together, and for those reasons, Llywydd, I ask Members to support the Government amendment.

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Dwi eisiau dechrau drwy nodi’n glir beth yw uchelgais Llywodraeth Cymru, a fy uchelgais i fel Gweinidog. Rŷn ni am i bob menyw, babi a theulu yng Nghymru gael gofal diogel, amserol a thosturiol, sy’n ymateb i'w hanghenion. Rŷn ni eisiau gwasanaethau mamolaeth a newyddenedigol sy'n gweithredu'n gynnar pan fydd pryderon yn cael eu codi. Yn fwy na dim, rŷn ni am i fenywod a theuluoedd wybod bod eu lleisiau nhw’n bwysig. Yr uchelgais honno sy’n sail i’r gwaith o weithredu Galwad am Bryder ar draws gwasanaethau mamolaeth a newyddenedigol. Fe wnaf i esbonio'n gryno beth mae hyn yn ei olygu i fenywod, rhieni a theuluoedd.

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I want to begin by setting out clearly the Welsh Government’s ambition, and my ambition as Minister. We want every woman, baby and family in Wales to receive care that is safe, that is timely, that is compassionate and that is responsive to their needs. We want maternity and neonatal services that act early when concerns are raised. Above all, we want women and families to know that their voices matter. That ambition underpins the implementation of Call for Concern across maternity and neonatal services. I will explain briefly what this means for women, parents and families.

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Call for Concern is a patient and family escalation system that gives people a clear way to raise urgent concerns if they believe their own health, or the health of a loved one, is deteriorating and they feel those concerns have not been fully addressed. We know that women and families can often identify early signs or changes in behaviour that indicate something might be wrong. They might know when a mother is becoming increasingly unwell. They might see when a baby is behaving differently—perhaps it's feeding differently, or appearing unusually sleepy, or showing other concerning changes. Often, they will know when something doesn't feel right, and their concerns about a patient's deteriorating health must matter. When their concerns are raised, they must be heard, respected and acted on. That principle is at the centre of Call for Concern. Patients and families can raise those concerns with staff and, if they remain worried, request further review through the escalation process. The same applies to women who are concerned about their own health during pregnancy, birth or the postnatal period. This is an important milestone, Llywydd, in our journey to improve safety and strengthen maternity and neonatal care, ensuring women, babies and families are at the heart of decisions about their care. Call for Concern gives patients, parents and families that clear route to seek urgent help when they're worried. It gives them a stronger voice, and it's being introduced across adult, paediatric, maternity and neonatal in-patient services, so that this support is clear and consistent across the NHS in Wales. Wales already has strong clinical tools to help staff to identify deterioration rapidly, through early warning scores such as the all-Wales maternity early warning score, the neonatal early warning trigger and track tools. Call for Concern provides an additional safeguard: that direct route for patients and families again. The Welsh approach draws on lessons from pilots across the NHS in Wales, and it reflects international approaches like Ryan's rule in Australia, and aligns with the principles that underpin Martha's rule in England. It has two interconnected elements. Firstly, the patient wellness score, question or concern gives patients and families a structured way to say how they think someone is if they're worried. Secondly, patient and family initiated escalation gives them a way of escalating and further asking for clinical review if they remain concerned. Together, they will help to make sure that those concerns are not just heard, but they lead to action. This is particularly important within maternity and neonatal services. Pregnancy, birth and the neonatal period should be positive experiences. They should be safe experiences for every family. And every day—it's important to say—dedicated NHS staff provide that safe and compassionate and high-quality care to women, babies and families across Wales. But when things go wrong, the impact can be devastating. That is why there can be no room for complacency. We have to keep learning from reviews, from inspections, from investigations and, above all, from women and families themselves.

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Mae Galwad am Bryder yn adlewyrchu'r ymrwymiad hwnnw. Mae'n cefnogi ein rhaglen ehangach o wella diogelwch gwasanaethau mamolaeth a newyddenedigol ac yn cadarnhau'r egwyddor y dylai menywod a'u teuluoedd fod yn bartneriaid gweithredol mewn gofal. Nid dim ond mater o gyflwyno rhif ffôn neu newid dogfennau yw hyn. Mae'n ymwneud â diwylliant. Mae'n golygu creu gwasanaeth iechyd lle mae menywod yn teimlo eu bod wedi cael eu grymuso i godi pryderon am eu hiechyd eu hunain, lle mae rhieni'n teimlo'n hyderus i siarad os ydyn nhw’n poeni am iechyd eu babi, a lle mae staff yn gweld y pryderon hynny fel gwybodaeth hanfodol ar gyfer gofal mwy diogel. Mae cynnydd wedi cael ei wneud yn barod. Mae byrddau iechyd ac ymddiriedolaethau yn sefydlu llwybrau lleol, yn hyfforddi staff ac yn codi ymwybyddiaeth, gyda chymorth y rhwydwaith gweithredu dirywiad corfforol acíwt sydd dan ofal Perfformiad a Gwella GIG Cymru. Mae nifer o sefydliadau eisoes wedi cyflwyno elfennau allweddol o'r rhaglen.  Mae Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr eisoes wedi cynnwys cwestiynau am les cleifion yn eu systemau rhybuddio cynnar. Yn ystod y mis yma, byddan nhw’n gweithredu Galwad am Bryder ar ôl gwaith pellach i ddatblygu deunydd cyfathrebu lleol a deunydd ymwybyddiaeth staff, ac fe fyddan nhw’n cynnal archwiliad i fesur i ba raddau mae’n cael ei weithredu’n gyson. Ac mae Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Caerdydd a'r Fro wedi cyflwyno system weithredu safonol ar gyfer gwasanaethau newyddenedigol, ac wedi diweddaru eu dogfennau yn y maes, fel bod modd cofnodi pryderon rhieni am iechyd eu babi. Mae addysg i staff hefyd yn cael ei darparu ar draws gwasanaethau amenedigol. Mae Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Cwm Taf Morgannwg wedi gwneud gwaith paratoi helaeth cyn cyflwyno’r system, gan gynnwys datblygu llwybrau uwchgyfeirio, gweithdrefnau a gweithgareddau ymwybyddiaeth staff. Mae Bwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Bae Abertawe wedi lansio Galwad am Bryder mewn gwasanaethau mamolaeth ac wedi bwrw ymlaen â gwaith datblygu mewn gwasanaethau newyddenedigol. Lywydd, ar draws Cymru, mae timau amlddisgyblaethol yn cydweithio i sicrhau bod y gwaith gweithredu yn adlewyrchu trefniadau gwasanaeth lleol, ac mae hyn yn cael ei ategu gan ddisgwyliadau cenedlaethol clir a chysylltu parhaus drwy rwydweithiau gwella cenedlaethol. Erbyn mis Gorffennaf eleni, roedd disgwyl i bob bwrdd iechyd ac ymddiriedolaeth weithredu eu trefniadau i gofnodi sut mae cleifion yn asesu eu llesiant eu hunain, ac i sefydlu systemau uwchgyfeirio ar gyfer cleifion a theuluoedd yn eu lleoliadau cleifion mewnol acíwt. Bydd cerrig milltir pellach yn ei gwneud yn ofynnol i sefydliadau ddangos dull dibynadwy o ddogfennu pryderon cleifion am eu hiechyd, a dangos sut maen nhw’n ymgorffori’r trefniadau hyn yn gyson ar draws gwasanaethau yn ystod gweddill y flwyddyn hon.

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Call for Concern reflects that commitment. It supports our wider programme of maternity and neonatal safety improvement, and it reinforces the principle that women and their families should be active partners in care. This is not simply about introducing a telephone number or changing documentation. It's about culture. It's about creating an NHS where women feel that they have been empowered to raise concerns about their own health, where parents feel confident to speak up when they are worried about their baby's health, and where staff see those concerns as vital information for safer care. Progress is already being made. Health boards and trusts are establishing local pathways, training staff and raising awareness, supported by the NHS Wales Performance and Improvement acute physical deterioration implementation network. Several organisations have already introduced key components of the programme. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have already embedded patient wellness questions within existing early warning systems. This month, they will implement Call for Concern after further development of local communications and staff awareness materials, and they will be carrying out an audit to measure how consistently it’s being implemented. And Cardiff and Vale University Health Board have implemented a neonatal standard operating procedure and have updated their documentation in that field, so that parental concerns about their baby’s health can be recorded. Staff education is also being delivered across perinatal services. Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board have undertaken extensive preparation work ahead of implementation, including the development of escalation pathways, operational procedures and staff awareness activities. Swansea Bay University Health Board have launched Call for Concern in maternity services, and have progressed implementation within neonatal services. Llywydd, across Wales, multidisciplinary teams are working together to ensure how this is implemented reflects local service arrangements, and this is being supported by clear national expectations and ongoing engagement through national improvement networks. By July of this year, health boards and trusts were expected to implement their arrangements for documenting patient self-reported wellness, and to establish patient and family escalation systems within their acute in-patient settings. Further milestones will require organisations to demonstrate how they are reliably documenting patients' concerns about their health, and how they are embedding these arrangements consistently across services during the remainder of this year.

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Importantly, the all-Wales maternity, neonatal and paediatric early warning systems already provide mechanisms to address patient and family concerns. This means the infrastructure for listening to women, parents and families is increasingly becoming part of routine clinical care. But this will build on that. It will provide better reassurance to mothers and families, and could ultimately help save lives. Now, I recognise that this has to be implemented successfully, and it will therefore require strong clinical leadership. It will require multidisciplinary collaboration, and it will require a sustained focus, because safe care depends not only on professional expertise, but on effective partnerships between professionals, women and families. Women and their families have to be aware that the system is there. They have to feel empowered to use it if they need to. Call for Concern is aimed at ensuring that the voices of women, parents and families are recognised as an essential part of safe care, and that NHS organisations have systems in place to respond quickly. This will not replace clinical judgment, or strong leadership, or safe services. That is not its purpose. But rather, it adds that vital safeguard, and gives women and families a clearer voice when they are worried. It strengthens our shared ambition for safer, more responsive and more compassionate care for women, babies and families across Wales. Diolch.

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Diolch, Claire. Firstly, I am so sorry for the experience that you have had. Thank you for sharing that, and I'm so sorry. There will be so many women who will have had similar experiences, too many women, and I am very sorry for that. On what you said about there being a very simple principle at play here, I agree entirely. We have to listen to women and their families. Let's hope that there will be many occasions when something is raised and it's escalated, and then there isn't anything wrong. Fantastic. But it's about giving that reassurance, to be able to ensure that women and families are feeling listened to, that they are being believed, and that that is acted on quickly. No woman, no family, should ever feel that their concerns are being ignored or downplayed. Again, I repeat that there are fantastic clinicians across our NHS who get this right every day. But any woman or family not getting that care in the way that they should is too many. So we need to be looking at how we can improve this. I do agree with you as well that success can't ever be just about having posters up. It can't just be about a phone number existing. Success for this won't be measured by whether this exists—it's about whether it is used effectively, whether lessons are learned from those concerns that are raised when they are escalated, and that we learn as an NHS. There are lots of investigations that have happened, not just within Wales but across the UK, that we need to be continuously learning from, and we need to be learning from women and families' experiences too. In terms of how we will be making sure that health boards learn those lessons and to make sure that it's being implemented effectively, all health boards and trusts are expected to meet the requirements that are set out in the Welsh health circular, and they will need to demonstrate that the arrangements are embedded and used reliably. We're going to be measuring progress against established NHS improvement governance and assurance mechanisms, and it will be made clear to health boards that if they are not meeting these, there will be clear remedial action. Absolutely, this can't be a postcode lottery. In terms of the question you asked about—. By July of this year, this process was meant to have started, and it has in many of these health boards. In terms of whether that information can be published, whether people can be tracking this in real time, that's a very good question, and I'll take that away to see what is possible. There may well be reasons why, because of the sensitivity of the cases, things could not be published, but it's a good question, and I will take that away. Certainly, when I have more clarity about when we can give a final date about when everything is implemented consistently across Wales, I'll be able to update you. Diolch, thank you, for the tone and the openness that you brought to that, Claire. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

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Diolch, Jayne. I agree with the point that you made in opening there, about the first few weeks of a baby's life being of essential importance in terms of not just their welfare, but the welfare of everyone around that baby, about the entire family. I know, from the role that you previously played, this is something very close to your heart as well, and I commend you for everything that you did in that role. I know it's something that is still really important to you. In terms of the assurance assessment of neonatal services that women helped shape, as you're saying, yes, I'm very happy to confirm that the recommendations of 'The path to safer beginnings' are indeed going to be implemented. I'm very happy to confirm that. Again, I know that there will be people who will be watching this who will say, 'Oh, yes, but they have reports and they have recommendations and they're accepted, but not enough changes'. We cannot get this wrong. This is something that transcends politics. This is about ensuring that more babies get the care that they need when they need it, and making sure that we learn from when things have gone so horrifically wrong. So, yes, that is something of absolute essentialness, if that's a word. In terms of midwifery—and of course, the point you make is absolutely true—none of this will be possible without the fantastic staff who are helping women and families every day. I do recognise the pressures on the midwifery workforce with maternity services. They play that vital role in delivering safe and sustainable maternity care, of course. The Welsh Government does continue to invest in the education, the training, the retention of the workforce. As I've said, we are committed to delivering the recommendations on that as well from 'The path to safer beginnings', and that includes developing a workforce acuity tool that reflects the current requirements in maternity services and a workforce model that's fit for the future. In the meantime, health boards have to plan, they have to deploy their workforce effectively using the current Birthrate Plus workforce planning tool, to ensure that those services are staffed safely and sustainably. On the situation of midwifery graduates, I recognise the ongoing uncertainty that's facing so many of our newly qualified midwives. That, of course, is a situation that we inherited. But from the graduate summit that my colleague the health Minister had convened earlier in the summer, we're making sure that we are maximising employment opportunities, that we're working with Health Education and Improvement Wales and with NHS Wales to make sure that we are providing that practical support, that we're ensuring the lessons from this year's recruitment cycle can inform future workforce planning. But crucially, that every opportunity is maximised for those young people, and my thoughts are with them, absolutely. Finally, the workforce plan is being developed. This will be part of the consideration in terms of perinatal mental health. This was something that was really important to my predecessor in this role, Steffan Lewis. I know, again, it's something that is really important to you. If ever it would be helpful—and I'd extend this to Members, to spokespeople, across the Chamber—to have a further meeting to discuss that in greater depth, I'd be really happy to do that. Diolch, Jayne. Thank you for that.

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Diolch, Peter. I think that there is an awful lot where there will be, I would hope, agreement across the Chamber on this, and that's come out in the fact that I think that it does no harm to be reinforcing those same questions, because it is something so important for us to be repeating things like this, in terms of the point you made that success is, again, in the implementation. It isn't about whether a system exists, it's about whether the system works, whether it is going to lead to further empowerment and improvements in safety, which, again, could even mean lives being saved. So, it's something of fundamental importance. You asked about ensuring that we need to make sure that there isn't a postcode lottery. Absolutely. In terms of how we stop that from happening, the Welsh health circular sets out that clear national expectation for health boards and trusts. Of course local arrangements will need to reflect individual services, but that core requirement has to be the same across Wales. And in terms of how we monitor that progress, it's going to be supported through national improvement networks. It's going to be monitored through established NHS governance and assurance arrangements as well. You talked about empowering women, and, again, I agree entirely with you. In terms of—and it's an interesting point—how we can make sure that they know that this is available, which is something that Claire raised as well, so, practically, the things that we can do, there's going to be information provided by health boards during care—information leaflets, posters, bedside information, discussions with staff. Because, again, we can't just put a poster on the wall and think, 'Oh, well, it's there now, people will have to read it.' This is a very stressful time in someone's life, and they're not necessarily going to be looking at the poster on the wall. That's why it has to be embedded in the culture of the NHS. And that's something that, again, we're going to have to keep under continual review to see how well that is working. In terms of how we assess how well it's working, I've laid that out. But in terms of the question that you raised, which is a really good question: how can we measure awareness levels? Of course, to a certain extent, how often it is used will be that, but that's a very crude way of looking at it. I'm going to speak to officials about what else could be possible, because I think that's a really good question. And you mentioned staff pressures. Now, I do recognise, and this is something that Jayne alluded to as well, that there are huge pressures facing staff. Of course, and I'm sure that they would agree, patient safety has to be the priority. And so that's why it's intended to strengthen existing deterioration escalation arrangements; it's not meant to create a separate service that runs alongside them. Health boards will have to ensure, of course, that those local pathways are practical, that they're understood clearly, that they're supported by appropriate clinical leadership. But again, we need to keep this under review. And finally, Llywydd, Peter, you asked, I suppose, why this is happening now, in a way, in terms of the wider context that we need to be aware of. Call for Concern isn't a response to any single review or investigation. It forms part of a wider programme to improve maternity and neonatal safety. But, of course, this doesn't exist in a vacuum. This is very timely today with the news that's coming out from England. We have to learn from reviews. We have to learn from inspections, investigations. Most importantly, we have to learn from the experiences of women and the experiences of families and make sure that, as you say, outcomes and making sure that people's lives are better—. That's the ultimate test.

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[Inaudible.]—vitally important. Because of where the microphone is, I'm sorry that I'm having to have my back to you. It's very awkward about the Chamber. No family, no parent should ever be made to feel that they are being difficult when they are worried about the health or the condition of their baby, or indeed a mother about her own health, as we're talking about here as well. But again, if we are going to be embedding this and changing the culture of areas and pockets—and this is pockets, of course, but any pockets are too many pockets with this—then we have to make sure that women feel—

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eu bod nhw'n cael eu grymuso—

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that they are being empowered—

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—that women feel that they are truly empowered to be able to use their voice, and to feel more certain that their voice is going to be listened to. I am concerned—. Okay, I will take that away, the point that you said about the lack of awareness among some members of the workforce. As I say, this is being rolled out at different timetables slightly over a period of weeks with different health boards, but would you mind writing to me with some of those specifics so I can look into that? That would be really—. Obviously, this is something for local health boards to do, but it would just be useful for me to get a flavour of where, perhaps, we need to be aware of what might be happening. So, that would be really useful for me. But again, just to say that our ambition isn't simply for people to know about Call for Concern, but for them to feel confident in using it, and safe in the knowledge that their concerns are going to be taken seriously. That should never prejudice their care. Thank you so much for raising that. Diolch, Sara.

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Diolch, Gareth. I know the expertise that you bring to this area as well, so thank you for sharing that. Certainly we need to be learning from MBRRACE-UK on this. My understanding is that acute psychiatric problems, like what you've set out, would be covered by this. Again, it's making sure that this supplements and complements the support that is already there, that it doesn't look to sit alongside it. If a family member in the kind of situation that you are outlining notices something about the mother, that their mental health is deteriorating, they will be with them possibly every day, they will be with them hour after hour. They will see that deterioration in a way that a clinician might not, because they haven't seen them for as long. So, this is vitally important and this is something that I'm really passionate about. And I know that you're not just passionate about this, but you have an awful lot of expertise in this area as well. I really appreciate the fact that you've raised this because, absolutely, we can't afford to get this wrong. This is about women's lives. So, thank you for raising that.

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Diolch, Zaynub, and thank you for your advocacy with this issue as well. This has come up already and I'll say again that I know that there are concerns about how reported staffing levels don't always reflect the pressures that are being experienced on the ground, and as you've alluded to, the 2026 student streamlining process has highlighted how vitally important it is that we ensure workforce planning, education commissioning and service requirements are closely aligned. Now, of course we need to learn lessons from that for future cohorts, but we vitally need to be supporting those graduates today—Megan and her fellow graduates. They are needed. Of course they are needed, and as a Government, we are doing everything that we can to maximise those employment opportunities, working again with HEIW and NHS Wales. I can only begin to imagine how difficult this time will be for Megan and for her fellow graduates. It is something that we absolutely are taking incredibly seriously. And, of course, this is feeding into the workforce plan. In terms of our response to ‘The path to safer beginnings in Wales’ report, we're already working with NHS organisations to develop the future maternity workforce security tool that I mentioned earlier, which reflects better the complexity of care, where the future service demands are going to be, workforce requirements. And in that meantime period, health boards have to, of course, deploy their workforce effectively with the existing mandated planning tool Birthrate Plus. But, look, this is something that is hugely, hugely important, and the thoughts of everyone in this Chamber are going to be with that cohort, and I thank you, and other Members as well, for raising their concerns. They are needed. Thank you.

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Thank you for raising that. Look, I'm really glad that you had that positive experience. It should, like you say, be a precious experience for every family or every individual, and, too often, it isn't, of course, and I feel that we need to keep repeating that, for the vast majority of families, they will have a wonderful experience and life-changing in a fantastic way. For too many families, they have a life-changing experience in another way, and not just our thoughts, our action here has to be making sure that we are helping them. We have to learn from every investigation, whether that's in our own health boards, whether that's from investigations that are happening that are commissioned on a greater level, nationally, sometimes in other countries as well. In terms of, as I've said, how we make sure that the escalation processes are followed, this has to sit alongside the tools that already exist, to complement them as that safeguard, so that it is yet another check and balance, and, crucially, it's a platform to make sure that women get their voice heard, that families get their concerns raised. As I've said, existing governance assurance arrangements are going to be used to make sure that we are monitoring this properly. But if I could say finally, Dirprwy—. Forgive me, I downgraded you then, sorry. If I can say finally, Llywydd—it's the first day back—that every family, every woman deserves to have the fantastic care that you've just set out. I can only imagine that this will have been a difficult statement for many families to listen to, and you are going to be in our thoughts as well. We have to get this right. And I really welcome the tone that everyone in the Chamber has taken this afternoon. Diolch. Diolch, Lywydd.

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