It seems everywhere you go people are talking about the new BBC show This Is Going To Hurt.
Based on the memoirs of junior doctor Adam McKay, the new show is already going down a storm.
In the first episode, a pregnant woman has an urgent casearean section to save her life after her placenta comes away from the wall of her uterus.
This is all set in a busy London maternity ward – but what if this was to happen in a rural area where there is a lack of women’s health services?
Rebecca Wymer from John O’Groats is calling for women’s health services in Caithness to be drastically improved – and she says if what played out on This Is Going To Hurt was to happen in the rural Highlands, it is likely mum and baby would both die.
The first thing I thought is mum and baby would be dead here in Caithness, it would be very unlikely they would survive.
– Rebecca Wymer
Ep1 of #ThisIsGoingToHurt by the amazing @amateuradam features a placental abruption patient.
If this happened in Caithness, the mother & baby would likely die.
No gynae service for 100+ miles/+3 hours.
It's not safe. Stop gambling with our lives @scotgov.#100milestoofar pic.twitter.com/SwThkj16td
— Rebecca Wymer 🎗️ Endometriosis UK North Highland (@RebeccaWymer) February 11, 2022
‘Mum and baby would be dead’
Ms Wymer has been calling for women’s health in the area to be improved after having to wait years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, a painful condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries.
She says often patients need to travel over 100 miles to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness for treatment.
Ms Wymer has since submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament to take this call to MSPs.
After watching This Is Going To Hurt, she said: “In the show a woman’s placenta comes away from the wall of her uterus and that is a major emergency.
“The first thing I thought is mum and baby would be dead here in Caithness, it would be very unlikely they would survive.
“There is no way someone could be transported when they are bleeding out to Inverness because we don’t have an obstetrician or gynaecologist here.
“Often patients can’t be airlifted either because it is too much of a risk to mum and baby.”
If the weather is bad airlifting patients from Caithness to Inverness is also not an option – for example when there was freezing fog on Boxing Day 2021.
Thousands sign petition
Ms Wymer’s petition, which calls for an urgent look at women’s health in Caithness, has received over 2,750 signatures and is now being reviewed by Holyrood’s citizen participation and public petitions committee.
However, Ms Wymer says if something is not done soon about women’s health services in Caithness, someone will end up dying.
She said: “The first episode of This Is Going To Hurt is really, really good but I can’t get across how incredibly urgent an operation like that is.
“If you have an ectopic pregnancy that ruptures, you have minutes to save someone’s life and that’s not something you can deal with without a surgeon on hand.
“There is going to be a death and it shouldn’t wait until that happens.”
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