Position Statement on the Swansea Bay Maternity Support Group Family-Led Review of Maternity Services
Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) would like to express its sincere thanks to the Swansea Bay Maternity Support Group and all the families who contributed to this important review. The report provides a powerful and deeply moving account of lived experiences, and we recognise the significant effort, care, and courage that went into its development.
We welcome the recommendations set out in the report and acknowledge the need for improvement across maternity services in Wales. We are committed to engaging constructively with the recommendations and using them to inform and strengthen our work.
This review provides an important opportunity for reflection and learning. We will consider how we might strengthen the frequency and focus of our inspections of maternity services, while balancing this against our broader statutory responsibilities across the NHS and independent healthcare sectors, including our duties under the Mental Health Act and IR(ME)R regulations. We will also take this opportunity to reaffirm and clarify how we respond to whistleblowers who raise concerns with us and ensure that members of the public better understand how their feedback informs the decisions we make about our assurance work.
HIW is committed to playing an active role in driving national improvement, alongside other bodies and partners. We welcome the newly commissioned All Wales Maternity and Neonatal Assurance Assessment, which will help identify good practice, address variation, and support rapid improvement in safety and quality across services. We remain focused on making the best use of the resources available to us in delivering our responsibilities and ensuring that the voices of families continue to shape the future of maternity and neonatal care in Wales.