AS A member of the National Assembly’s Children and Young People’s Committee, I have been involved in the inquiry into neonatal services.

Neonatal care is a vital part of the services provide in our hospitals; looking after babies who are born prematurely or with specific health issues. Two key issues in providing care for babies have been brought to our attention: the number of nurses working in neonatal departments and the number of cots available.

As an Assembly member for the south east, I was particularly interested in the situation locally.

Sadly, our inquiry is not the first of its kind, the last such inquiry took place in 2008 and progress has been modest.

The Welsh Government has set national standards and we have been taking evidence and scrutinising the actions of local health boards to measure their progress.

Our local health board, Aneurin Bevan, was last year assessed and improvements and challenges were highlighted.

That review highlighted a surplus of cots for babies with less urgent needs and a concern that this was preventing enough resources being provided for intensive care cots for those babies with more pressing medical needs.

Concerns about staffing levels were also raised, and the need for Aneurin Bevan Health Board to make changes to comply with the Welsh Government’s standards.

Indeed, it’s very clear that in the Royal Gwent they have relied on using agency staff to make up for the shortfall in neonatal care. The board itself acknowledges this and has taken steps to train more staff more quickly.

While this is welcome news, it is still the case that we do not have enough staff working in local neonatal services.

I am therefore concerned that despite the efforts of the local health board over the past 18 months or so, they have been unable to meet the national standard for staffing levels, including the inability to provide a ratio of one nurse to one baby for neonatal intensive care – the care given to those babies in most urgent need.

Getting it right for babies is vital.

Advances in medicine mean that babies can be born earlier and in some cases it’s possible to operate on a baby before they’re even born.

An increased birth rate also means that there is increased pressure on resources and services.

I hope our inquiry can contribute to improved services and care in Gwent and across the nation.