Thank you for taking the time to write to me about the systemic inequalities in pregnancy loss and baby deaths. The loss of a pregnancy or stillbirth are tremendously difficult events for women, their partners and families, without the added anguish of wondering if the baby would have survived if not for its ethnicity. My heart goes out to all those who have experienced such great loss.
I was deeply moved by the lived experiences that bereaved parents and families shared in the SANDS report, and I am disappointed that health inequalities persist and have continued to grow in Wales.
Along with my Welsh Conservative colleagues, I am gravely concerned about the state of Maternity Services in Wales. Within the last 5 years, maternity services in three of Wales’s seven health boards have been placed in special measures – with a July 2023 Health Inspectorate Wales Report into maternity services at the University Hospital for Wales raising serious concerns about the treatment of Black and Ethnic Minority Women.
Maternity services in Swansea Bay University Health board were placed into special measures in December 2023. In the weeks leading up to this announcement, my colleague Russell George MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, was raising the Health Board’s shocking failures in maternity services with the Health Minister. He will continue to closely monitor the safety of maternity services in Wales, and call on the Minister for Health to implement a Women’s Health plan for Wales (the only nation in Great Britain not to have announced one).
The Welsh Conservatives are committed to tackling inequalities and addressing discrimination. Dr Altaf Hussain, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Equalities, will continue to work with Russell George MS and the Welsh Government to address and tackle inequalities within the health system.
Thank you again to take the time to contact me,
