EXCLUSIVE: 'We're too busy.. you need to go home' Newton Stewart mum backs calls for D&G maternity review
Debbie Kelly's baby was born in an ambulance after she had been sent 45 miles back home from DGRI while in labour
A mother from Newton Stewart is joining calls for a major overhaul of NHS maternity services in rural areas, after she revealed to CFM News she was "kicked out" of Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary while in labour.
Debbie Kelly, who had a high risk pregnancy due to a spinal injury, drove 45 miles with contractions every five minutes and was told by midwives they were "too busy" to help her.
She said: "I was left alone all night and they told me they were going to send me home and I just burst out crying and I said I didn't want to go home, I was scared.
"They refused to check me - we sat there for an hour and we refused to leave but they said, 'no, I'm sorry there's nothing we can do' and 'you'll have to leave'.
"They told me there was nothing they could do, the midwife was too busy and and that I had to go home."
Born in an ambulance
Shortly after Debbie returned home to Newton Stewart she began pushing the baby and called for an ambulance by the maternity ward's instruction.
"An ambulance came but it was a one-manned ambulance so they couldn't do anything and I was screaming in agony.
"It was a mad rush to get to the hospital, we were going so fast my husband couldn't keep up."
"We got to the Gatehouse bypass on the A745 and I knew she was coming and by the time the paramedic pulled over into the layby, she was already out and I had her on my chest.
"It wasn't the nice, or safe birth that I had wanted."
Ongoing consequences
Debbie added that she has been left with both mental and physical consequences from the birth: "Physically I have more pain because of it, but mentally, I can't stop thinking about it.
"It just runs over you all the time, and I think it's the what-ifs and the anger over it all because it's still happening."
Last week, Dumfries and Galloway Council voted to request a review of the care provided after the issue was tabled by Councillor Jackie McCamon and the Galloway Community Hospital Action Group.
"Nothing will change. It's all empty promises," Debbie told West Sound.
"I would love the maternity unit in Stranraer to be opened again because it was easy and it was a lovely place, the midwives there were lovely, amazing."
Birthing complications
Debbie explained that the complications giving birth to her daughter, Imogen, could have been repeated: "Imogen's heart had stopped and it was so scary.
"I watched her getting resuscitated and it was heart-wrenching, horrible and so scary in what felt like an eternity
"If that had happened again, I don't think Edith would have survived in the back of that ambulance."
"I'm just glad that I'm not a first-time mum because that would absolutely terrify a new parent.
"I would never go back and I would never have another baby."
Staffing issues
A spokesperson for NHS Dumfries and Galloway admitted there are staffing issues with rural midwifery, but that they cannot comment on individual cases: "There are significant challenges for midwifery being faced not just in Wigtownshire, but by the region as a whole and nationally.
"It was explained that we continue to recruit locally on a rolling basis and have also participated in the national midwifery recruitment campaign co-ordinated by Scottish Government in January 2022, with no success locally.
"We have been unable to recruit any international midwives as part of the recent international campaign.
"However, we are currently working with Edinburgh Napier University who are offering a 2-year PG Dip midwifery programme to qualified nurses. As part of this we are currently supporting individuals on the 2022 programme and are advertising for the 2023 cohort.
"A concern over insufficient midwifery staff to sustain a safe out of hours rota meant that the option of giving birth in the Clenoch Birthing Centre in Galloway Community Hospital has not been available since 2018, and unfortunately remains the present situation.
"Births can obviously take place at any time of the day or night, which requires sufficient, qualified midwifery staff to be sure of being able to fully staff a birthing facility 24 hours a day, across weekends, holiday periods, etc.
"There is a new Scottish Perinatal Network transport group that is reviewing the remote and rural transport processes nationally, to co-ordinate an approach to the safe transfer of women in labour, on which Dumfries and Galloway maternity services and the Scottish Ambulance Service are represented.
"In the meantime, we are providing antenatal and postnatal care inclusive of both high risk consultant-led care and low risk midwifery care."