Moray running out of patience on maternity services, says Richard Lochhead

MORAY'S MSP claims locals are "running out of patience" after a near three-year lag in restoring full-strength maternity services at Elgin's Dr Gray's Hospital.

The unit remains at midwife-led level after its downgrade in 2018 over staffing issues.

SNP MSP Richard Lochhead today expressed his "disappointment" over a response he has received from NHS Grampian chief executive Professor Caroline Hiscox after he wrote to the health authority on the future of local maternity services.

He will now seek the Scottish health secretary’s intervention to set a timetable for the return of a consultant-led unit in Elgin.

Prof Hiscox said timescales for work on a new maternity service model had been impacted by the pandemic and this was "an unavoidable delay in an unprecedented situation".

However, she said this work was a matter of high priority as the NHS moves into Covid recovery.

She said new options for maternity care in the north would likely be presented in summer, but was dependent on the course of the pandemic.

Mr Lochhead said: "The community is running out of patience given the lack of progress in reinstating a full consultant-led maternity service at Dr Gray’s, with more and more local women having to travel to give birth in Aberdeen.

"Indeed, in their reply to me the NHS say that between 2019 and 2020, there was a further decline in births at Dr Gray’s, down from 280 to 178, as well as an increase in transfers to Aberdeen from 33 to 41.

"I am really disappointed that NHS Grampian’s reply does not provide a stronger commitment to what the community is seeking and while there is mention of new service model options for the whole of the north of Scotland by the summer, there is still no clear timescale for the restoration of the service at Dr Gray’s.

"There is a clear sense of drift and, although everyone recognises that the NHS is focused on Covid right now, this letter was a missed opportunity to lay out a firm timeline for action and to give a strong and unshakeable commitment to ensuring that the vast majority of women are able once again to have their babies at Dr Gray’s.

"This sense of drift, where there are always new obstacles constantly appearing and leading to more delay, simply can’t go on."

In her letter to Mr Lochhead, Prof Hiscox says: "The ‘Best Start North’ programme will develop the maternity service models across the north of Scotland. This work will inform the model for the consultant-led maternity unit in Dr Gray’s."

She says the NHS remains on an emergency footing and this has impacted on the progress of "Best Start North".

Prof Hiscox added: "I do recognise the effect of this delay on the community, including economic impact, but it has been an unavoidable delay in an unprecedented situation.

"It is my absolute intention to revitalise this work as a matter of high priority as we move into our recovery stages of living with Covid, subject to the course of the pandemic.

"In the interim we continue to provide scheduled services for women in the antenatal period which are supported by consultant obstetricians including day assessment services when women require additional support, and a midwife-led labour and birth service at Dr Gray’s, pending the outcome of the Best Start North work.

"I appreciate that this maintains the current position, in that a higher number of Moray women will require to give birth in Aberdeen than would prefer to."

She adds: "I remain absolutely committed to putting in place a safe and sustainable maternity service model that promotes choice for Moray women."