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Maternity Services & Baby Health

by Owen Donovan

September 23, 2026

in Health & Social Care, Issues

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Maternity Services & Baby Health

Is this devolved to Wales?

Where is this happening?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

Who has been affected?

Number of live births, by year (source)

Number of expectant mothers in Wales who recorded a mental health condition, or were clinically obese (source)

£ 00 million Total

Cheese
Explanation
Etc

Who has raised this at the Senedd?

Delyth Jewell MS

Deputy Minister for Social Care

Sara Crowley MS

Backbencher

Mair Rowlands MS

Co-Chair: Culture

Becca Martin MS

Backbencher

Claire Archibald MS

Shadow Social Care Minister

Dr Gareth Thomas MS

Shadow Mental Health Minister

Francesca O'Brien MS

Shadow Local Government Minister

Catherine Cullen MS

Shadow Minister for Children

Cristiana Emsley MS

Shadow Communities Minister

Jayne Bryant MS

Chair: Health & Social Care

Shav Taj MS

Backbencher

Peter Fox MS

Backbencher

Natasha Asghar MS

Backbencher

Janet Finch-Saunders MS

Backbencher

Darren Millar MS

Conservative Group Leader

Jane Dodds MS

Backbencher

Delyth Jewell MS

Deputy Minister for Social Care

Sara Crowley MS

Backbencher

Mair Rowlands MS

Co-Chair: Culture

Becca Martin MS

Backbencher

Claire Archibald MS

Shadow Social Care Minister

Catherine Cullen MS

Shadow Minister for Children

Francesca O'Brien MS

Shadow Local Government Minister

Dr Gareth Thomas MS

Shadow Mental Health Minister

Cristiana Emsley MS

Shadow Communities Minister

Jayne Bryant MS

Chair: Health & Social Care

Shav Taj MS

Backbencher

Peter Fox MS

Backbencher

Janet Finch-Saunders MS

Backbencher

Natasha Asghar MS

Backbencher

Darren Millar MS

Conservative Group Leader

Jane Dodds MS

Backbencher

What are the party positions on this?

Plaid Cymru backbenchers want to ensure patients are aware of the service. They also have concerns about shortages of qualified maternity mental health staff.

I've been made aware of staff working in adult in-patient wards in Cwm Taf Morgannwg, where Call 4 Concern is already in place, who have never heard of it. And I'm concerned that if staff aren't aware of the service, patients and families may not be either. So, I wonder if I could ask how the Welsh Government is working with health boards and have a little bit more detail on that, to make sure that everybody involved, from the patient, families and staff, know about Call 4 Concern and have the information and training.

Bliss has found a 62 per cent shortfall in neonatal allied health professionals, psychology and pharmacy staffing across Wales, with the shortfall in psychology provision standing at 90 per cent, the second highest in the UK.

Reform UK MSs stressed the importance of making sure parents are aware of the service, and also the need to address mental health issues during pregnancy.

Bliss has highlighted the difficulties parents can face in staying overnight to be close to their sick or premature babies. Imagine giving birth, leaving the hospital without your baby, and having to travel back and fore, sometimes hundreds of miles every day, simply to be with them. And for families living significant distances from specialised neonatal care, that means travel costs, parking costs, food costs, loss of earnings and early maternity leave at precisely the moment when their sole concern should be their child.

The success of the programme cannot simply be measured by whether every maternity unit has a telephone number or a poster on the wall. We have to measure what happens after somebody makes that call. Did somebody respond? How quickly did they respond? Was the woman seen by another member of her medical team? Did they find that her condition had got worse? Did her treatment change? And, most importantly, did that action prevent serious harm?

Deterioration in mental health during pregnancy or the postnatal period can be extremely rapid. One of the main clinical messages from MMBRACE-UK, the report last year, was that it's important to recognise and act on red flags in maternal mental health, including significant change in mental state, thoughts or acts of violent self-harm, expression of incompetence as a mother, or estrangement from the infant.

Labour supports Call for Concern, but wants a greater focus on staffing pressures.

The Royal College of Midwives has identified workforce capacity as the most pressing challenge currently facing maternity services in Wales. This includes ensuring sufficient opportunities for newly qualified midwives, as well as improving the retention of experienced staff. These pressures will continue to impact the safety, quality and accessibility of care for women and families if action is not taken.

Whilst positive steps have been made with the Bliss baby charter.... that work is not complete, and my understanding is that neonatal units at the Grange and University Hospital of Wales are both at the pledge of improvement—that's the initial stage for the Bliss baby charter—and they need support to progress. Meanwhile, the other seven neonatal units, which you've mentioned, in Wales need to be able to take action to achieve the higher levels of accreditation.

The Conservatives support the rollout of Call for Concern, but don’t want the Welsh Government to lose sight of the failures which prompted it being brought in. They also have concerns about a lack of high-end neonatal units in the north.

Families and premature children also need support long after they have left the neonatal unit. Parents of children admitted to neonatal care are more than likely to experience mental health needs, yet less than a third of parents told the charity The Smallest Things that they received formal emotional support after having left the unit. Also, just one in five parents agree that their GP understands their or their baby's needs, and a little over a third felt that their health visitors understood their and their baby's needs.

Whilst I welcome the introduction of Call for Concern, it is important that we do not lose sight of the wider context. ....The review into services in Swansea bay identified repeated failings in care, governance and culture, while the national maternity assessment found that further improvements remain necessary across Wales. The Welsh Conservatives support measures that strengthen patient safety and amplify the voices of women and families. However, today's announcement will ultimately be judged not by its intentions, but by its outcomes.

One of the challenges we have in north Wales is that we don't have a level 3 neonatal service; we have a sub-regional neonatal intensive care centre. It does some phenomenal work, but we're still having to transfer babies over the border, generally to Arrowe Park Hospital. What work will the Welsh Government do to review the status of that sub-regional neonatal intensive care centre, with a view to potentially raising the standard to make it a level 3 provision for north Wales and, indeed, get people transferred in from over the border rather than the opposite way out?

Green MSs haven’t said anything on this yet.

Test Test Test

Jane Dodds has expressed support for the Bliss baby charter, but has raised concerns about the workforce.

It's clear, isn't it, that there is support for the charter across the Chamber, and I'm pleased to say, of course, that the Liberal Democrats here in Wales also support it. May I just ask: how will you ensure that there is a specialist workforce available to deliver this charter? Because you've mentioned providing services through the medium of Welsh and bilingually, and I'm sure it must be difficult to try and recruit and retain staff across the workforce.

Who is responsible?

Delyth Jewell MS

Deputy Minister for Social Care

What have ministers said?

I'm so pleased to report that all neonatal units in Wales are now engaged with the (Bliss baby) 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....It gives a structured framework for neonatal teams to recognise good practice, to identify gaps and to agree practical actions for improvement.

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.

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....When their concerns are raised, they must be heard, respected and acted on. That principle is at the centre of Call 4 Concern.

What's being done about this?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What do the Welsh Government want to do?

Does this need a new law or regulations?

How long will this take?

What have the Senedd's Committees said?

Nothing has been discussed yet.

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Relevant Votes

Nothing to see yet.

Further Reading

Welsh Government (16th September 2026). “Families given clearer way to raise concerns when a mother or baby’s health is getting worse in maternity and neonatal wards“
Swansea Bay University Health Board (July 2025). “Summary Report of:The Independent Review of Maternity and Neonatal Services (pdf)”
Bliss Baby Charter
Welsh Government (30th September 2026). “Neonatal units strengthen support for parents’ voices in care“

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