Concerns raised over impact on vulnerable families as dispute escalates in Cwm Taf

A STRIKE involving health visitors in Wales has sparked political calls for intervention from Senedd ministers, amid warnings that vital services supporting young children and families could be affected.

South Wales Central Conservative MS Andrew RT Davies said ministers must “take responsibility” for the dispute involving staff working within Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, after constituents raised concerns about the impact on services.

Health visitors are specialist nurses who support families with babies and young children, providing advice on development, feeding, safeguarding, and maternal wellbeing. They are widely regarded as a key frontline service for early-years health and prevention.

Speaking in the Senedd, Mr Davies warned that a failure by Welsh ministers to intervene would represent an “abdication of responsibility”, arguing that health boards carry out functions delegated to them by the Welsh Government.

He said: “Health visitors play an important role in our communities – often helping people when they’re at their most vulnerable.

“This dispute is deeply concerning and Cwm Taf Health Board has failed to resolve it.

“The Health Board’s functions are delegated to it by Senedd ministers – so they must intervene.

“Senedd ministers must take responsibility and ensure the dispute is resolved.”

Industrial action involving NHS staff is relatively uncommon in this specialist area of care, and concerns have been raised about potential disruption to services including routine child development checks and support visits to vulnerable families.

It is not yet clear how many staff are involved or what level of service disruption patients may experience, though health boards typically seek to maintain urgent and safeguarding services during periods of industrial action.

The Herald understands that workforce pressures, workload concerns, and staffing levels have been longstanding challenges across community nursing services in Wales, with professional bodies repeatedly warning about rising demand and recruitment difficulties.

A spokesperson for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said it was working to resolve the situation and minimise disruption to families, while Welsh Government officials said health boards are responsible for operational management of local NHS services.

The Welsh Government added that it continues to work with NHS organisations across Wales to address workforce pressures and ensure safe services for patients.

The dispute comes at a time of wider concern about NHS pressures across Wales, including staffing shortages and increasing demand for community-based care.

For families with young children, health visitors are often the first point of contact for support — particularly for new parents, those experiencing mental health difficulties, or households with safeguarding concerns — meaning any disruption to services is likely to cause anxiety among patients.

No further details about the duration of the industrial action have yet been confirmed.

Staff shortages and safety concerns highlighted in national assessment

A MAJOR national assessment of maternity and neonatal services in Wales has exposed systemic weaknesses, staffing shortages and missed opportunities to improve patient safety, raising concerns that families are being let down while frontline staff struggle under increasing pressure.

The Maternity and Neonatal National Assurance Assessment — The Path to Safer Beginnings in Wales — found examples of compassionate, dedicated care across the country, but warned that key vulnerabilities remain in safety, consistency and outcomes for women, babies and families.

The independent review, led by former Children’s Commissioner for Wales Professor Sally Holland, gathered evidence from more than 600 women, parents, families and staff, alongside visits to maternity and neonatal units in every Welsh health board.

While many families reported positive experiences and praised staff professionalism, others described poor communication, inconsistent postnatal support and limited involvement in decision-making. A small number who experienced serious harm or loss said their trauma was worsened by defensive responses rather than openness and learning.

The report also found that national organisations responsible for improving maternity care are often working in parallel rather than collaboratively, with data not being used effectively to identify emerging risks, inequalities or areas needing urgent intervention.

Rising medical interventions — including record caesarean rates — alongside delays in reconfiguring neonatal services in south Wales were also highlighted as factors affecting both safety and staff morale. Postnatal and perinatal mental health provision was found to lag behind services elsewhere in the UK.

Staff told assessors they felt overstretched by increasing complexity in care needs and lacked time to provide the continuity and postnatal support they believed families required.

The panel identified eight priority areas for improvement rather than adding to the more than 500 recommendations made over the past decade, calling for stronger national coordination, better use of digital records for real-time safety monitoring, and the introduction of a national 24-hour pregnancy triage line.

Professor Holland said: “Excellent maternity and neonatal services are central to our health as a society. They have life-long impacts on physical health, mental health and family relationships.

“The challenges are large, but they are solvable, if they include those who rely on or work in Wales’s maternity and neonatal services every step of the way.”

Midwives’ leaders have also called for urgent action, particularly on workforce pressures.

Julie Richards, Director of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Cymru, said the findings reflected longstanding concerns raised by frontline staff.

She said: “This report echoes what midwives and maternity support workers across Wales have been telling us for some time. There is real compassion and commitment across our workforce but there are serious and urgent challenges that must now be addressed.

“Safe staffing is the foundation of safe care — you cannot deliver safe, high-quality maternity care without a workforce that is properly staffed, supported and resourced.

“Staffing shortages must be treated as an immediate safety issue and we are calling on the Welsh Government to address this urgently, with dedicated funding and a commitment to fully implement these recommendations.”

She added that the right skill mix, stronger leadership support and investment in newly qualified midwives were essential to creating a sustainable workforce.

The report has already prompted political criticism.

Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Peter Fox MS, said: “After 27 years of Labour running our NHS, propped up by Plaid, this report lays bare a maternity system that is overstretched, under-supported and lagging behind the rest of the UK.

“Families are being let down by poor postnatal care, inadequate mental health provision and inconsistent investigations when things go wrong, while staff are left battling unsafe staffing levels and rising intervention rates.

“The Welsh Government must take responsibility for these failings and urgently fix systemic problems in maternity care.”

The Welsh Conservatives say they would bolster the workforce, improve data collection and establish a dedicated mother and baby unit to address gaps in provision, particularly in North Wales.

The report concludes that Wales has the expertise and commitment needed to deliver high-quality maternity care, but warns that meaningful improvement will require sustained investment, clear accountability and national coordination.

Previous convictions for similar offences revealed to court

A 57-YEAR-OLD man from St Dogmaels has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after admitting multiple serious child sex offences.

Leof Sceaga appeared before Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday (Feb 26), where he was sentenced for possessing hundreds of indecent images of children as well as extreme pornographic material.

The court heard that Sceaga had 232 Category A images — the most serious classification — together with 331 Category B images and 366 Category C images in his possession. He also admitted possessing a number of extreme pornographic images.

While outlining the facts, the prosecutor told the court that Sceaga’s internet search history included terms such as “kiddie porn”, “pre-teen models” and “pedo kids centre webcam”.

The court was further told that Sceaga had previous convictions for similar offences, having appeared before Nottingham Crown Court in both 2012 and 2019.

In mitigation, Mr Griffiths, defending, said his client accepted that an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable.

His Honour Judge Geraint Walters sentenced Sceaga to 27 months’ imprisonment for possession of Category A images, 12 months for Category B images and three months for Category C images. He was also handed three months for possessing extreme pornographic images and a further three months for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

All sentences will run concurrently, resulting in a total custodial term of two-and-a-half years.