Where is the accountability at Cwm Taf?
Welsh Liberal Democrats in RCT have raised questions of accountability amidst ongoing concerns over maternity services in Cwm Taf.
Campaign Manager Karen Roberts says that whilst front line staff are shouldering much of the public blame for the state of the service more senior staff are apparently being ushered out behind the scenes.
"We recently had staff including a student midwife being named and shamed in the press during an inquest into the death of a baby, unfairly in my view. Yes this was a tragedy for the parents, but there was no wilful intent in the part if the midwifery staff, yet they are having to bear the brunt of the public outrage as they are in the front line.
"What about the management and those behind the scenes whose role it should have been to ensure standards were kept up, that staffing levels were adequate and concerns addressed. It appears that several of those are now being ushered out, quietly, out of the public eye.
"The NHS is a public service, there should be public accountability, a duty of candour. Cwm Taf are suddenly advertising for a 'Learning from Concerns Coordinator'– several years too late. I work in the social care sector; we have to have solid quality control processes in place and are answerable to the CIW and Health Boards with regard to our standards of care. Where are those processes within the Health Boards?
"Cwm Taf has a duty of care not only to patients but to staff and it is high time they recognised that and opened up about the problems behind the scenes. Where were the management that the alleged lack of reporting of incidents went unnoticed for so long? Where did the fault lie? Was it with front line staff or was it elsewhere along the line – data managers not doing their job?
"Whatever changes take place must be done openly, it is not about blame, but it us about accountability. You cannot learn from mistakes if you do not admit exactly how they were made."
