Thank you for contacting me about postnatal checks.

I agree that midwives and health visitors play a very important role supporting parents and babies across the country.  I want people to be empowered to shape and manage their own health and care and making meaningful choices, particularly for maternity services. 

During the pandemic, my colleagues and I in the Welsh Conservatives have been particularly concerned about the treatment of new and expectant parents.  It is unacceptable that a significant number of women in Wales are going through pregnancy scans or the labour without a partner or close family member present, and it will be of no surprise that many parents will need support because of this difficult time.  

In Wales, women in need of specialist care have struggled to access effective and timely treatment for too long. The lack of existing provision, since the only Mother and Baby Unit was closed in 2013, has resulted in many women facing the harsh reality of being removed from their support networks to receive treatment in England, being admitted on inappropriate wards without their babies, or turning down treatment due to the distance.  It is disappointing that progress to reinstate the unit in south Wales has been slow and that the Welsh Labour Health Minister, Vaughan Gething MS, has stated there ‘isn’t enough demand’ for a unit in North Wales. Welsh Conservatives have been consistently campaigning for this to change.

The first 1000 days of a child’s life is crucially important to their future development, so the importance of ensuring that mothers and their babies are supported to build lifelong relationships cannot be understated. Developing a range of community and acute services in Wales to support mothers faced with perinatal mental health challenges will go some way in mitigating against the impact of separation.

While the Welsh Labour-led Government promised to provide better outcomes for women, their babies and families with, or at risk of, perinatal mental health problems through its mental health strategy, we believe that fundamental to the enhancement of perinatal services is fully understanding both need and staffing.  There is also a distinct lack of data, and the real challenges of recruiting staff and providing professional development for staff is vital to overcome before the service is sustainable, efficient and effective.

Before a Mother and Baby and Unit is reinstated, we must also, as a matter of urgency, explore the expansion of psychological treatments, such as talking therapies, to ensure that mothers can be signposted to support services at the earliest opportunity.  In the meantime, my colleague, Andrew RT Davies MS, the Shadow Minister for Health, Social Care and Sport, will continue raise the issues you outline directly with the Health Minister.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.