Health and Social Care Committee
The work of the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales
Evidence from Heads of Midwifery Education – HIW 29
Heads of
Midwifery Education
October 4th 2013
Please see below the response on behalf of the Heads of Midwifery Education in Wales to the National Assembly for Wales’ Health and Social Care Committee short inquiry into the work of Healthcare Inspectorate Wales.
· The relationship between HIW and statutory supervision of midwives is set out in the LSA Annual Report to the Nursing and Midwifery Council:
· We believe that Health Inspectorate Wales is effective in its functions in terms of Statutory Supervision of Midwives as laid out in Articles 42 and 43 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001.
· Through the Local Supervising Authority (LSA) and supervision of midwives’ processes, Health Inspectorate Wales ensures that women and their families have access to safe and effective maternity services. The LSA is also responsive to incidences of serious concern and systematic failures.
· The voice of women and the wider public in the way health services are reviewed is pre-eminent in the work of the LSA; it involves Lay Reviewers in all aspects of its work.
· The Local Supervising Authority also ensures effectiveness of working relationships and collaboration throughout maternity services in Wales with the underlying aim of protecting the public.
Heads of Midwifery Education:
Susanne Darra – Swansea University
Janine Davies & Nan Morse – University of South Wales
Mary Longworth – Bangor University
Grace Thomas – Cardiff University