Missed miscarriage was an 'isolated incident'

Health Secretary Shona Robison has said it is `totally unacceptable' for a woman to have to wait up to five weeks for surgery after pregnancy loss.

But she said the case of a woman who was sent away from hospital in the Glasgow area with antibiotics after suffering a missed miscarriage with surgery scheduled for five weeks' time was an `isolated incident'.

Campaigners from Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity, are reported to have claimed five-week waiting times for the procedure, known as a dissection and curettage (D&C), were `normal' across the area.

In the case highlighted at the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) annual review meeting, the woman is said to have haemorrhaged while awaiting surgery, resulting in an emergency admission to hospital.

Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar pressed Ms Robison on the `shocking and heartbreaking' case at health questions at Holyrood.

He told the Health Secretary: `Resource isn't meeting demand within the NHS, with health boards telling us they are having to make over #1 billion of cuts over the next four years.

`That is having devastating consequences for the workforce and on patient care too. One shocking example of this is the revelation that a woman in Glasgow who suffered a miscarriage having to wait up to five weeks to have a surgical removal of the foetus.

`That is a shocking and heartbreaking revelation.'

Mr Sarwar demanded: `What will it take for the cabinet secretary to wake up and realise there is a problem in the NHS and give patients and NHS staff the treatment they deserve?'

Ms Robison told him there was more money being put into the NHS in Scotland than ever before, but accepted `demand for the NHS continues to grow and puts pressure on services.'

With regard to the `very serious case'' at NHSGGC, Ms Robison said there was a full investigation being carried out into the circumstances.

She said chief medical officer for Scotland, Catherine Calderwood, had been asked to look into the situation both in the Glasgow area and the rest of Scotland.

But Ms Robison stressed: `The initial indications are from Glasgow and Clyde that this is an isolated case, totally unacceptable and I am absolutely determined that that standard of health care is not something we would accept for anybody anywhere in Scotland.

`But it is reflective of the rest of the service within Glasgow and Clyde. The chief medical officer is seeking assurances about that, not just in Glasgow and Clyde but elsewhere, because I want to make sure that women across Scotland get the highest level of of care, particularly in very, very sensitive circumstances like this.'

Dr Calderwood said: `Miscarriage is a very distressing experience for women and their families and it is extremely important that they are offered the right care and support.

`I am sorry to read reports of women waiting longer than necessary for medical procedures and it's unacceptable for women to wait long periods at a very upsetting time.

`I have already spoken to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The health board's current standard is that women experiencing a miscarriage who choose a surgical procedure are offered it within a two-week timeframe, and they have sought to assure me that that standard is met.

`The board is also trialling a new service using local anaesthetic in an outpatient setting within a seven-day timeframe. When that has been evaluated, the service will be expanded to ensure any increase in demand is met.

`The Health Secretary has ask me to investigate the current practices of health boards to ensure they are meeting the needs of women who experience a miscarriage.

`I will be examining the processes of all health boards, what range of options are offered to women and the timescale for women to have a medical or a surgical procedure.

`If there are unacceptably long waits, health boards will be tasked with changing their processes to ensure that this does not happen.'