'Moray deserves a better maternity service'
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"Moray deserves better" – that's the message from the Keep MUM campaign on the fourth anniversary of Dr Gray's maternity services being downgraded.
Kirsty Watson, a mum-of-three from Elgin, points to cases of women having been forced to give birth at the side of the road while on their way to hospital in Aberdeen.
This, she says, has happened despite assurances back in July 2018 that it would not.
The Keep MUM spokeswoman said: "It’s four years today since the maternity unit at Dr Gray’s was downgraded.
"You might remember how the midwives were asked by management not to use the term ‘downgraded’ as that suggested the service was less safe.
"Of course, without consultant cover, it was obviously less safe and still is.
"We have told the Cabinet Secretary and, more recently, his civil servants on two separate occasions that we are very concerned about the focus on Model 4 (a midwifery-led unit linked to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness), given that there is little benefit to the vast majority of Moray women.
"We fully agree that Raigmore needs to have upgraded maternity facilities and increased staffing, but these improvements are needed anyway, regardless of the situation in Moray.
"Model 4 is designed to improve the maternity service at Raigmore.
"This is the urgent question – how does Model 4 put us on a path to achieve consultant led maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital?
"When the detailed Model 4 plan is published, the Scottish Government must demonstrate the incremental benefits which will be available to Moray women over the next few years.
"We can’t wait to the end of the year to hear more about how Moray women can give birth in Moray.
"At a public meeting in July 2018 we were told, by NHS Grampian, that protocols would be so carefully drawn up that no one would give birth on the way to Aberdeen and experiencing labour in a long car journey would be just fine.
"We all know how that turned out – babies have been born by the roadside, expectant mums have endured painful and frightening labours in cars and severe anxiety is part of being pregnant in Moray.
"When the unit was downgraded in July 2018, NHS Grampian turned back the clock to the 1980s.
"This was primarily due to poor planning.
"We’ve had four years of no progress and now talk about 10 years before we have a consultant led maternity unit at Dr Gray’s Hospital.
"After years of inaction, the population of Moray deserves a better maternity service and we appeal to the Health Secretary to do more to speed up the process of getting to the ultimate goal – a consultant-led maternity service."
