Moray MP Douglas Ross says he has a “very real fear” that a full return of consultant-led maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital will never occur after meeting with NHS Grampian today.
Douglas says that the health board and SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf have once again badly let down expectant mothers in Moray with their latest update on how maternity services will return.
The move to model four is expected to be delivered by the end of next year, but there will now no longer a return to elective c-sections at Dr Gray’s by then.
That is despite the review in December on maternity services at Dr Gray’s recommending the return of c-sections, in order to potentially double the number of women able to give birth at Dr Gray’s each year.
SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf also agreed with the recommendation saying “We are going to be seeing what is possible in the short-term, which includes the rapid reintroduction of elective c-sections at Dr Gray’s.”
Douglas also hit out after the health board couldn’t give any further details on the timescales to deliver model four by December 2023, highlighting that NHS Highland have not even submitted a plan yet as to how Raigmore Hospital will cope with this model.
The Moray MP also raised his significant concerns that a plan submitted to Humza Yousaf could be rubber-stamped by the SNP Health Secretary without any opportunity for opposition politicians to scrutinise it in the Scottish Parliament which will not sit again until September.
He says the meeting today left him believing it was one that suited the health board and the SNP Scottish Government to avoid the plan being submitted before Parliament broke up for summer recess.
Douglas says that NHS Grampian and Humza Yousaf are still failing to deny that it could be a further 10 years before consultant-led services and now the return of c-sections may take the same time to be restored at Dr Gray’s, saying that “expectant mothers are being betrayed every step of the way.”
He is now going to write to Humza Yousaf as a matter of urgency with a series of questions, including demanding an answer over the failure to re-introduce c-sections as part of model four.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “This meeting confirmed the very worst fears of expectant mothers and myself. A full return of consultant-led services at Dr Gray’s hospital may take up to a decade to return, or may never happen at all.
“There is a real risk that the move to model four, whatever that ultimately looks like, may become the norm for expectant mothers in Moray. That is disgraceful and something that I will simply not accept.
“Health board chiefs outlined a move to model four by the end of next year, but have already gone against a crucial review recommendation by saying elective c-sections won’t happen at Dr Gray’s by then. That is yet another point where expectant mothers have continually been betrayed throughout this devastating situation.
“Humza Yousaf even outlined that the rapid reintroduction of c-sections would be a key short-term recommendation to take forward so he has serious questions to answer.
“The health board are all over the place and have plucked a headline delivery date out the air, but have no idea or timescales as to how they will actually deliver it.
“It is hardly surprising then that Humza Yousaf and the health board didn’t want this debated before Holyrood broke up for summer recess. SNP MSPs including Richard Lochhead shouted my attempts at scrutiny down at every opportunity, rather than standing up for mums in Moray.
“Now there are real fears that MSPs won’t have any opportunity to scrutinise this before it gets rubber-stamped by the Health Secretary, or they will be left in limbo until September 6th, when Parliament returns.
“The situation for expectant mothers in Moray is nothing short of a scandal, yet the health board and health secretary are simply not giving it the urgency it badly needs.
“I will continue to press for the full return of consultant-led maternity services at Dr Gray’s and call on Humza Yousaf to answer my questions on behalf of expectant mothers and families in Moray as quickly as possible.”
