Mum feels 'robbed' of first birth after having to travel more than 110 miles to have baby
Cassidy is one of several women we're speaking to as we look into women's health services in the far north.
Last updated 4th Nov 2024
EXCLUSIVE
A Caithness mum says she doesn't wish to expand her family unless she moves out of the area, after having to travel more than 110 miles to give birth.
Cassidy Beveridge and her partner wanted to have their first child, Oliver, in Wick's Caithness General, close to where they stay in Thurso,
However, they were told to go to Raigmore in Inverness, where she suffered a traumatic labour.
The 24-year-old says she felt "trapped" into being induced due to how far away she was from home and feels "completely robbed" of her first birth.
Cassidy is just one of several far north based women we're speaking to as this will be the eighth winter since women's health services were downgraded at Caithness General.
"We don't want to put ourselves through that again"
In February this year, Cassidy and her partner were looking forward to the birth of their first child and were already discussing expanding their family.
She was very clear she wanted to have Oliver in Wick, with winter weather conditions playing a huge part in her choice.
Cassidy received medication due to having high blood pressure, and says because of this she wasn't able to give birth in Caithness.
After travelling to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, it was heavily recommended that an induced labour would be the best option before she had to have an emergency C-section.
Cassidy described what happened just before Oliver was born.
She said: “Next thing I know, I’ve woken up from a nap being told that if we don’t go into theatre now, my son is not making it.
"It was so fast my partner didn’t have time to scrub in.
“Neither my partner nor I were present for my son’s birth, and he collapsed because he just couldn’t take the stress.
“While he wasn’t there for the actual birth, he had to be there for the resuscitation efforts and of course I was unconscious throughout all of this.
"They made it feel like almost trapped to take it (induction) because you knew you didn't have that option.
"The thought of a helicopter flight in labour is absolutely terrifying."
Almost eight months on, Cassidy outlined how she still suffers mentally from the experience and it has dissuaded her from expanding her family unless she moves away from Caithness.
She added: "It’s made us say we’re not having another one unless we move out of the area.
"Because we don’t want to put ourselves through that again. Not at all."
The mum of one also outlined how she fears for other woman in the same position as her going into the winter months.
She said: "My heart truly aches for them.
“I hope that they all have healthy, happy births I hope they all have straightforward births, because I do not want anybody to go through what I have been through and what I have heard other women go through.
“It’s absolutely horrifying.”
In 2016, the Caithness General midwifery unit was downgraded from a consult-led to a midwife-led facility.
According to figures obtained by the Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) campaign group, only 12 women from the region gave birth in the local hospital last year compared to 164 in 2015.
Many now face a 104 mile journey from Wick to Inverness to access women's health services, the same distance between Edinburgh and Newcastle.
NHS Highland have outlined what they're doing about the issue.
A spokesperson said: "We are sorry to hear that people have had a poor experience of our services and that people have experienced distress.
"We are always keen to hear from people and would welcome individuals contacting us directly in order to ensure we have a dialogue with them about what happened to them and what we could do differently in the future for them and others.
"We attend the Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) a group that represent women and families to raise issues, concerns and ideas.
"We meet regularly and implement service improvements - monitoring progress through the CHAT action plan.
"We also have regular meetings with the North Highland Women’s Wellbeing Hub (NHWWH). Health leaders and local women meet to discuss and support taking women’s health services forward.
"In Caithness we provide as many gynaecology procedures as is safe to do so in Caithness General Hospital.
"We have a consultant based in the area and regular visiting consultants from Inverness. High risk or complex cases continue to come to Raigmore – this is the same for all our remote and rural areas in the Highland region.
"Theatre lists are planned to support travel for those travelling longer distances and accommodation and expenses are also provided.
"We are currently looking at developing some specialist gynaecology nursing roles for Caithness to add resilience to the service.
"Our consultant lead for gynaecology is also running an endometriosis trial which will look at the care pathway for these patients.
"These are just some of the service developments that we are working with and in discussion with the NHWWH group.
"We appreciate them to bring ideas, concerns and suggestions forward and as a team we work to achieve improvement."