NHS Grampian response shows a lack of planning for major maternity change
Moray MP Douglas Ross has expressed concern about the arrangements made by NHS Grampian for expectant mums in Moray. He made his comments after receiving a reply to a letter he wrote to the Acting Chief Executive at NHS Grampian, Professor Amanda Croft, following a public meeting in Elgin last month.
Commenting Douglas said: “The public meeting in Elgin left many questions unanswered and I wrote to the Acting Chief Executive the next day seeking clarity on a number of issues. Sadly the response I received makes it clear that some of the information given by NHS Grampian was not complete and in other areas, it’s clear there has been a complete lack of planning for such a major change to maternity services in Moray.
“We were told at the meeting that in-labour transfers would be kept to a minimum, a statement presumably made to counter the criticism that women in various stages of labour would be forced to travel a considerable distance to give birth.
“It now transpires that when this was said at the meeting, Dr Fairley was only speaking about a small group women, not all the expectant mums in Moray. At best this was a confusing and inaccurate statement which should have been clarified by the panel on the evening.
“We were also fortunate to have at the meeting a doctor from the Emergency Department in Elgin who highlighted concerns about the lack of training for him and fellow doctors who could now be faced with more women in labour attending at Dr Gray’s. While I welcome the confirmation that NHS Grampian will now provide additional training, it is incredible and absolutely baffling that they did not consider this prior to it being highlighted at a public meeting. This will not instill confidence in the those concerned about the changes to the service in Moray.
“Finally I asked for information on the readiness of the Ambulance service who are likely to see an increase in calls to transport women in labour to Aberdeen and Inverness. Again, we hear plans are in place to recruit more staff and base them in Moray. But why are these only planned, why are these people not in place now? From last month women at medium and high risk were no longer able to give birth in Elgin and the anticipated increase in the usage of ambulances will have started from the moment the maternity unit at Dr Gray’s was downgraded. It is simply unacceptable that the increased staffing for ambulances was not in place at the same time the changes to the maternity unit were announced.
“All these points just reiterate how unprepared NHS Grampian and the Scottish Government were for such a major change to our health service in Moray. While expectant mums were forced to change their plans for giving birth locally with only a couple of weeks-notice it’s very clear that the Health Board was not prepared for this and the people of Moray deserve better than this.”