New future for maternity care in Moray is unveiled
The networked model will allow for women to have a midwife-led birth or consultant-led birth in Inverness from December 2023
A draft joint plan on the future of maternity services in Moray has been presented to the Scottish Government, after a downgrading four years ago.
Elgin's Dr Gray's Hospital switched to a midwife-led service in 2018, resulting in women in need of more complex care having to go to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary or Raigmore in Inverness.
The Government confirmed in March that it was committed to returning the hospital to a consultant-led model.
In the meantime, a community maternity model - linked mainly to Raigmore - will be put in place, with the publication setting out proposals for this to be achieved by the end of 2023.
The "Moray networked model" would allow for women to have the option to choose either a midwife-led or consultant-led birth in Inverness from that date, with the report stating that the hospital will require upgraded facilities to make sure there is enough capacity.
A recruitment campaign will also take place in order for Raigmore to ensure it has enough staff to cover the services upon the model's launch.
"I commend both boards for the ambitious timescale they have set out..." Humza Yousaf
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "I welcome NHS Grampian and NHS Highland's draft joint plan for Moray maternity services and acknowledge the huge amount of work has been carried out. I commend both boards for the ambitious timescale they have set out to achieving the Moray networked model by the end of 2023.
"I will now consider the draft plan alongside additional detail to be submitted in the coming weeks.
"As part of that consideration, I will seek additional external input and advice and am pleased to announce that Professor Linda de Caestecker will lead the external oversight process I announced as part of my response to the review in March.
"Linda brings with her a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise and I am very much looking forward to working with her.
"It is right now to allow some time for the plan and associated documents to be scrutinised and discussed in more detail and I intend updating the Scottish Parliament as soon as is practicable at the beginning of the next session."
Professor De Caestecker recently retired as director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, after holding the role from 2006 until earlier this year.
Commenting on the update local MSP Richard Lochhead MSP said:
“The implementation of model 4 is all about giving women more choice over where they give birth and NHS Grampian indicated that a couple of hundred women a year could choose to have their babies at Raigmore rather than having to travel to Aberdeen.
“It is however disappointing that plans to restore elective caesareans are not included in the draft plan for model 4 due to concerns raised by clinicians that would be involved in delivering the service. Given this could potentially increase the number of women giving birth at Dr Gray’s by around 20%, we need assurances from NHS Grampian that this service will be restored as soon as possible. Of course, this is only a draft plan so we will need to see how quickly this part of the service can be reinstated.
“I once again made absolutely clear to NHS Grampian that work on delivering model 6 – which is the consultant service – must be accelerated and delivered as soon as it is safe to do so. That means plans for a consultant service must be worked on concurrently, rather than waiting to deliver model 4 first, and we need NHS Grampian to outline how it plans to spend the £5m allocated by the Scottish Government for investment in Dr Gray’s.