Restoring maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin will be “huge challenge”, health bosses have admitted.
Recruiting obstetricians, responding to changing regulations and providing anaesthetics expertise were identified as hurdles that must be overcome when health bosses appeared at Holyrood.
Pamela Dudek, Moray Health and Social Care Partnership chief officer, said upgrading the hospital’s paediatric service was going “very well” with funding for four paediatricians that were expected to be in post by February.
But she added: “Maternity continues to be a huge challenge for us. We are trying to resolve challenges around anaesthetics, because anaesthetics is the backbone to a small acute hospital.
“Without that capacity in place there are a number of things we would be unable to perform and consultant led obstetrics is one of them.
She added: “Then there is the question of the number of obstetricians that would be required, depending on the nature of the service we would optimise to. So we are actively working on that.”
A deadline of April 2020 has been set for restoring maternity services after the Moray unit was downgraded in August last year due to staffing issues.
