Phased return of consultant led maternity services coming to Moray

The Health Secretary says a consultant-led maternity service will return to Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.

Humza Yousaf confirmed while services are expanded in Moray, in the interim Raigmore maternity unit will be expanded to allow Moray women to choose to access care in labour and birth there, in addition to Aberdeen Maternity Unit.

He also said the Scottish Government will pledge £10 million of investment to deliver this, £5 million to start the development of services at Dr Gray’s and a further £5 million to improve facilities at Raigmore Hospital.

Mr Yousaf was responding to an Independent Review of the services provided at Dr Gray's to expand the care provided locally and reduce travel times for expectant parents.

He says the move will see 80 to 90% of Moray births taking place at the hospital over a period of time on a phased basis, with delivery of as much antenatal and postnatal care as possible in Dr Gray’s in the short term, reducing the need to travel for appointments.

Speaking at Holyrood, Mr Yousaf said: "Safe maternity care as close to home as practicable is vital and I’ve heard directly from those most affected, namely local people and the clinicians working in both Dr Gray’s and Raigmore hospitals before making this decision.

"This new £10 million of investment in maternity services I’ve set out today will help create a consultant-led Maternity Unit at Dr Gray’s, with a Community Maternity Unit, supported by consultant-led care from Raigmore in the interim. I hope this will see 80 to 90% of Moray births taking place at Dr Gray's when arrangements are completed.

"I am in no doubt about the scale of the challenges in delivering this, but I know we can deliver these changes over time and bring much needed stability to health services across the north east of Scotland."

Moray MSP Richard Lochhead welcomed the announcement.

He said: "NHS Grampian must now work flat out to restore the service.

"An interim arrangement, for women to have the option of travelling to Inverness rather than Aberdeen, is to be implemented also but it’s important that the restoration of Moray’s service is taken forward in parallel so that no more time is lost and the new investment can allow that to happen.

"The Government’s statement lays out a path for the vast majority of Moray women to give birth at Dr Gray’s and a cast iron commitment from the health board to make this happen as soon as possible is now essential.

"I hope the commitment to independent oversight will give the community some confidence that NHS Grampian will have to deliver.

"I hope to meet Keep Mum who have ran a wonderful and powerful campaign, and others, to discuss next steps in the near future."

NHS Grampian say their priority remains on the delivery of "safe and sustainable maternity services."

Interim Chair John Tomlinson said: "We thank Mr Yousaf for the clarity provided today, which sets the future direction for maternity services in Moray, Grampian and the North of Scotland more broadly, and the announcement of additional investment in Dr Gray's Hospital.

"We will work in partnership with the Scottish Government, NHS Highland, our staff, and the communities that we serve to make progress with these recommendations on a phased basis.

"Our priority remains the delivery of safe and sustainable maternity services and we share the Health Secretary’s commitment to ensuring expectant mothers receive the best possible care."

Plans "simply don't go far enough" - Douglas Ross

Scottish Tory Leader and regional Highland MSP Douglas Ross told Scottish Parliament about his concerns and voiced the health issues suffered by his newborn son James last year after having to travel to Aberdeen.

He said: "Expectant mothers were told that the downgrading of maternity services in Moray would only be temporary, yet they still haven’t been restored four years on.

“Despite the tireless efforts of local campaigners, today’s proposals from Humza Yousaf simply do not go far enough. He failed to provide any details as to when consultant-led services will be restored at Dr Gray’s.

“He failed to recognise how long this situation has been going on for and he failed to recognise that his aim of having 90 per cent of Moray babies born locally, simply might not happen during this Parliament.

“Continuing to have pregnant women make the journey to Raigmore or Aberdeen simply isn’t safe. I know from my own experience that travelling along the A96 to the hospital in Aberdeen was horrendous and something I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

“I often wonder if my son’s breathing difficulties shortly after being born were as a result of making that extremely difficult journey back to Moray when he was so young.

“It still feels like we are some way off Moray mothers having the guarantee of giving birth in their own community, which is hugely disappointing.

“I will continue to hold Humza Yousaf and the SNP Government to their promise of ensuring the Moray community is kept updated every step of the way. The lack of timescales and milestones raises serious concerns and we need to know why NHS Grampian has neglected Dr Gray’s and Moray for so long.”

Raigmore maternity model "not an option" - Rhoda Grant

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, said the Scottish Government’s announcement doesn't solve underlying problems of the shortage of nurses, midwives and doctors as highlighted by NHS workers at Raigmore Hospital and by the unions.

She said: "While I welcome the promise to reinstate consultant led maternity services in Dr Gray’s and the much-needed investment at Dr Gray’s and Raigmore, I cannot welcome this so called short term option.

"The Cabinet Sectary tells us he is listening to what those involved are telling him, but he is obviously not hearing what they say.

"Clinicians from NHS Highland wrote to him in February saying with regard to NHS Highland: ‘The Board did acknowledge on this occasion that the staffing and built environmental requirements for Model 4 cannot be met in the timescale proposed by the Report …i.e. within two years.’

"This is of profound significance as it confirms that Model 4 not an option for the short term.

"In addition, (they say) their lead paediatrician gave his opinion that the neonatal facility is at capacity and that any increase in the birth rate at Raigmore before major upgrading to staffing and facilities will put babies at risk.

"They went on to make the point clearly that neither was this a feasible option, because they were unable to currently fill staffing vacancies and existing staff were facing burn out.

"Many of these points were also made to him by the Chief Executive and community campaigners in Moray at meetings that I also attended.

"He must reconsider because what he is proposing is simply not safe."