How is the Welsh Government working with health boards to ensure that maternity and neonatal services are regularly reviewed to maintain safety standards?
There are nationally recognised high-level service standards for the delivery of quality improvement and safe maternity and neonatal care, including those published by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
The Health and Care Quality Standards 2023 also set out the standards people in Wales can expect when accessing health services, including maternity and neonatal services. These comprise six domains of quality (safe, timely, effective, efficient, equitable and person centred) supported by six quality enablers (leadership, workforce, culture, information, learning, improvement and research and whole systems approach).
The Welsh Government is committed to ensuring that maternity and neonatal services are regularly reviewed to maintain safety standards. We have a robust process to ensure that we have appropriate focus and oversight on the maternity and neonatal services across Wales, this is supported by the NHS Executive and the maternity and neonatal network.
Regular monitoring of data and outcomes is undertaken with health boards on maternity and neonatal issues within the integrated quality planning and delivery framework. Where concerns are noted, immediate action is taken to ensure that these are managed, and safety of mothers and babies is maintained.
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) inspects NHS services and regulates independent healthcare providers against a range of standards, policies, guidance and regulations to highlight areas requiring improvement. HIW has a programme of inspections for maternity services, which have been published.