Quite rightly, there are serious concerns raised by the latest incident at this IVF clinic in Cardiff… which has had such tragic outcomes for the couples involved.

All patients should be able to have confidence in the basic competence of the staff they are being treated by, but an incident of this nature seriously undermines this, and particularly when it has come to light that this same clinic lost the embryos of another couple back in 2004.

The Assembly Government needs to address the underlying issues behind these incidents as a matter of urgency, because it’s not acceptable to allow a situation where chronic staff shortages and overly-heavy workloads compromise treatment, or where the lack of maintenance on equipment results in that treatment becoming unsafe.

Likewise, I believe that the Assembly Government must work to end the inequality of access to treatment that Welsh patients receive compared with those living in England and Scotland, and work so that Welsh patients get the best outcomes from IVF treatment, whether by additional cycles – as is the case in England, and recommended by NICE guidelines – or through use of the latest pioneering treatments that dramatically increase the chance of success.

Thank you.