Highlands and Islands MSP, Edward Mountain is seeking an urgent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care following last week’s announcement on Moray Maternity provision.
Edward Mountain MSP believes that the interim plan, which will see Raigmore Hospital expand its maternity care for Moray mums before the reinstatement of a consultant-led maternity unit at Dr Gray’s in Elgin, has left families “with more questions than answers.”
Edward Mountain MSP is deeply concerned that if Raigmore’s maternity unit begins to open up to Moray mums before the necessary expansions in staffing, facilities and accommodation are achieved, then resources at the hospital could become “severely overstretched”.
The Highlands and Islands MSP, who also continues to call for a review of Caithness Maternity provision, said:
“Families across the Highlands and Moray have been left with more questions than answers.
“NHS Highland will receive an extra £5 million to improve Raigmore, but what this actually delivers remains unknown right now.
“We don’t know how much it will cost to redevelop Raigmore’s maternity unit and accommodation facilities. We still don’t know the timeline for when these enhancements will be achieved. Also, we are still in the dark as to how much the recurring costs will be for increased staffing at Raigmore.
“Frankly, I am deeply concerned that if Raigmore Hospital expands its maternity care to include Moray before the redevelopments have been completed, then services could be severely overstretched.
“This has the potential to put Highland mums and Moray mums into competition over resources – a situation which must be avoided at all costs.
“We also cannot have a repeat of what happened when maternity services in Caithness were downgraded but accommodation facilities in Kyle Court in Inverness were not initially fit for purpose.
“I am therefore requesting an urgent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary to seek the answers families need to know before another big shake-up to our region’s maternity provision gets underway.”
