Sands says Welsh Government must set clearer targets to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths

A BABY loss charity has called for renewed action to make maternity care safer after the latest national figures on stillbirths and neonatal deaths were published.

The MBRRACE-UK perinatal mortality surveillance report tracks deaths of babies shortly before, during or soon after birth across the UK, including Wales.

The latest report says baby death rates have continued to fall across the UK over the longer term, with the UK extended perinatal mortality rate standing at 4.77 deaths per 1,000 births in 2024, down 21% since 2013.

However, Sands, the UK’s leading pregnancy and baby loss charity, says progress must not be allowed to stall and has called on the Welsh Government to introduce clear targets to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

The charity said maternity safety must remain a national priority, with better monitoring, stronger accountability and continued learning from every baby death.

The report also notes that rates in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland can vary more from year to year because of lower birth numbers, meaning longer-term trends are important when assessing progress.

Sands says thousands of families across the UK continue to experience the devastation of pregnancy loss or the death of a baby each year.

The charity says that every day in the UK, 13 babies die shortly before, during or soon after birth, while at least one in six pregnancies ends in miscarriage.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The loss of a baby at any stage of pregnancy is devastating. Families who experience pregnancy loss at maternity units in Wales are supported by bereavement midwives, in conjunction with Sands, and offered memory boxes, which include a certificate of birth.

“Since 2016, stillbirth rates in Wales have shown a downward trend. The latest Perinatal Mortality Surveillance report acknowledges that in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, year-to-year variation in rates is often more pronounced because of lower birth numbers.

“All health boards are committed to improving quality and safety in perinatal care – through enhanced clinical reviews, early warning surveillance, safer preterm birth care, and structured learning from incidents.”

Hywel Dda University Health Board said it recognised “how devastating the loss of a baby is for parents and their families” and said its maternity and neonatal teams worked to provide safe, compassionate and supportive care.

Dana Scott, Director of Midwifery and Professional Governance for Women and Children at Hywel Dda, said the health board had “robust safety measures and clear clinical processes” in place across its maternity services.

She said Hywel Dda’s review processes were aligned with MBRRACE-UK and the Perinatal Mortality Review Tool, ensuring the health board listened, learned and reflected on each baby loss.

Ms Scott added that every family affected by stillbirth or neonatal death had access to dedicated bereavement midwives and nurses, as well as psychological support, follow-up care and opportunities for memory-making.

She said the health board also worked closely with its local Sands group and remained committed to learning from national reports to improve maternity safety locally.

Sands provides support to anyone affected by pregnancy loss or the death of a baby, including a confidential helpline, email support, online groups and local peer-support networks.

Health board admits standards are difficult to meet as doctors warn of “extremely dangerous” shortages

PATIENTS in west Wales are facing worsening delays to cancer diagnosis and treatment as severe staff shortages leave hospitals struggling to meet expected standards of care.

A major new report from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has warned that workforce shortages are now so serious that patients’ conditions are deteriorating while waiting for diagnosis and treatment.

The findings paint a bleak picture for Wales — particularly rural areas — with shortages of specialist cancer and radiology doctors among the worst in the UK.

Now, Hywel Dda University Health Board, which covers Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, has admitted it is struggling to recruit staff and warned that standards of care are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

Staff shortages ‘impacting care’

Responding to questions from The Herald, Hywel Dda said recruiting radiology and oncology clinicians “continues to be a challenge” across west Wales.

James Severs, Executive Director of Allied Health Professions and Health Science at the health board, admitted that staffing shortages are affecting services.

He said: “We are concerned that standards of care, and expected turnaround times are difficult to achieve, including within cancer diagnosis and other emergency conditions, while we have shortages in staff and equipment.”

The health board also confirmed that rising demand for scans, driven by increasing patient numbers and new care pathways, has not been matched by workforce growth.

As a result, Hywel Dda says it has increasingly relied on temporary doctors and external providers to interpret scans.

The admission comes as the Royal College of Radiologists warns Wales is facing an escalating crisis in diagnostic and cancer services.

Conditions worsening while patients wait

For the first time, every radiology department leader in Wales told the RCR they were aware of patients whose conditions had worsened because of staff shortages and delays to diagnosis.

The report found NHS Wales currently has 88 fewer consultant radiologists than needed — a shortfall of 28 per cent — and 13 fewer consultant clinical oncologists, representing a 17 per cent shortage.

Without urgent intervention, the situation is expected to worsen dramatically by 2030.

The crisis is especially acute in north and west Wales, where the radiologist shortage stands at 42 per cent — almost double that of south Wales.

The RCR warned this risks creating a “postcode lottery” in access to life-saving diagnosis and cancer care.

Waiting lists growing

The scale of delays is already stark.

In December 2025, nearly 47,000 people in Wales had waited more than eight weeks for a diagnostic scan or test.

During 2025, almost 10,000 patients waited more than 62 days to begin treatment for suspected cancer — far below the Welsh Government’s own targets.

Doctors warn that delays in diagnosis can have devastating consequences, particularly for cancer patients, where survival rates can worsen significantly with every month treatment is delayed.

One cancer service leader quoted anonymously in the report said: “Delays in patients starting both chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment” were directly linked to workforce shortages.

Another warned: “Workforce shortages in diagnostics especially radiology and pathology are critical and lengthening pathways which is leading to patient harm.”

‘Alarm bells should be ringing’

Dr Stephen Harden, President of the Royal College of Radiologists, said governments could no longer ignore the warning signs.

“For the first time, our census shows that patients’ conditions are deteriorating because of workforce shortages,” he said.

“Delays to diagnosis and cancer treatment are extremely dangerous, particularly in deprived and rural communities where shortages are worst.

“Alarm bells should be ringing. Without urgent action to train, recruit and retain more doctors, more patients will suffer.”

Millions spent on sticking plasters

Despite chronic shortages, the RCR said recruitment freezes in Welsh radiology departments have almost doubled in a year — rising from 33 per cent in 2024 to 57 per cent in 2025.

At the same time, NHS Wales spent £13.5 million last year on temporary fixes including locum doctors, overtime and outsourcing scans to private firms — enough to pay the salaries of 113 consultant radiologists.

Critics say the system is becoming trapped in an expensive cycle of firefighting rather than solving the root problem.

Hywel Dda said radiology was identified as one of nine services needing reform under its Clinical Services Plan and pointed to ongoing recruitment and training efforts.

The Welsh Government has been approached for comment.

RCN Wales says patients are being left in chairs and hospital corridors for hours as England begins releasing national figures

WALES is being urged to begin publishing hospital corridor care data after England released its first national figures exposing the scale of patients being treated in inappropriate spaces.

RCN Wales said the Welsh Government cannot properly tackle unsafe care if it is not routinely measured or publicly reported.

The call follows the publication of corridor care data by NHS England, which RCN Wales said provides a clearer picture of the scale of the issue in English hospitals for the first time.

The union is calling for the Welsh Government to publish monthly corridor care data by health board, agree a national data set, and release the first figures as soon as possible.

‘Unsafe and unacceptable’

Nicola Williams, Executive Director of RCN Wales, said: “Today’s publication of corridor care data in England demonstrates why transparency matters. We cannot tackle a problem we do not fully understand and are not measuring.

“Corridor care is unsafe, undignified and unacceptable. Nurses across Wales have repeatedly raised concerns about patients being treated in inappropriate spaces because of pressures on the health and care system.”

Ms Williams said she had recently visited a number of hospitals in Wales where she saw patients in chairs, on trolleys in corridors, and squeezed into overcrowded areas not designed for patient care.

She said some patients had been there for well over 12 hours.

She added: “There was one consistent feature which was the look of fear in patients’ eyes as they watched the continual movement and activity going on loudly in very close proximity to them.

“These patients were mainly in gowns with no privacy, no dignity, no space and no confidentiality.”

‘Now normalised’

RCN Wales said nurses had reported that corridor care had become normalised in some hospital settings.

Ms Williams said staff were going home after shifts knowing they had not been able to give patients the care they deserved.

She said: “Nurses told me this is now normalised, happens every day and staff cannot care adequately for patients, which is causing harm and distress to patients, and significantly affecting nurses’ morale.”

In the Senedd on Tuesday (June 2), Health and Care Cabinet Secretary Mabon ap Gwynfor described corridor care as an unsafe practice and said tackling it was a priority.

RCN Wales said it welcomed that recognition but said the next step must be proper measurement and public reporting.

Ms Williams said: “Without consistent national and organisation-wide data, it is impossible to establish the true scale of the problem, identify trends, target resources effectively or measure progress over time.”

Call for national reviews

RCN Wales is also calling for the publication of two national reviews into healthcare capacity, alongside policy recommendations for action.

The union said understanding the relationship between capacity pressures and corridor care would be essential if the practice was to be eliminated.

Ms Williams added: “This is not about collecting statistics for their own sake. It is about establishing a baseline against which improvement can be measured and ensuring accountability for delivering safer care for patients.

“Nursing staff have been warning about the dangers of corridor care for years. Patients deserve care delivered in safe and appropriate clinical environments, and staff deserve the resources and capacity needed to provide it.

“The publication of data in England is an important step. Wales must now follow suit and ensure we have the evidence needed to eradicate corridor care for good.”