Report into maternity care at scandal-hit Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board to be published

The first report from an expert panel looking into maternity services at Cwm Taf Morgannwg health board will be published today.

An Independent Maternity Service Oversight Panel was set up following a damning report into the state of maternity services at the south Wales health board.

It followed revelations that serious incidents - including the deaths and serious injury of babies - in the maternity units of the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant and Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil were not being reported properly.

The report by the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists found systemic failures of governance in the service and health board.

The oversight panel, led by Mick Giannasi, is now reviewing cases dating back to 2010 to try and establish what went wrong at the health board.

Cwm Taf's maternity services are now in special measures, which means there is direct Welsh Government oversight of performance. The health board as a whole has also been put into targeted intervention, meaning there is more scrutiny being placed on it to improve.