Local Conservative representatives have said that the recent meeting between Richard Lochhead and Jeane Freeman will not have provided local people with much confidence that the maternity service at Dr Gray’s Hospital will be restored anytime soon.
Councillor Tim Eagle, the Scottish Conservative candidate for Moray, at May’s Scottish Parliament elections said:
“There is widespread upset locally that this meeting, staged less than two months before the election, will result in any material change at Dr Gray’s.
“The fact that Jeane Freeman, even now, failed to provide any details about how and when the maternity service would be restored speaks volumes.
“It’s now three long years since we lost the service and it is simply unacceptable that local mums-to-be have had to travel all the way to Aberdeen regardless of weather conditions for such a long period of time.
“What should have been a time of joy and anticipation has all too often been one of anxiety because of the worry about the journey.
“It’s frankly ridiculous that a populated area like Moray should have such an inadequate level of provision locally.”
“KEEPMUM have kept a relentless pressure on NHS Grampian to return this service to normal, every day we see new stories of the problems it causes, the new plan needs to be thought about again and NHS Grampian and the Scottish Government must make this a priority in the recovery plan."
Highlands and Islands Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston added: “We have all lost count of the number of times Richard Lochhead has had ‘positive and constructive’ talks with Jeane Freeman about Dr Gray’s.
“The fact is during his watch as MSP for Moray, a period when the SNP have been in Government, we have seen Moray’s general hospital downgraded and the loss of two community hospitals, at Forres and at Aberlour.
“It’s not much of a record and, of course, with the news that Jeane Freeman is standing down at the election she won’t be answerable in the future for the SNP’s continuing failure to meet their commitments to local people in Moray.”
