Humza Yousaf is facing pressure to give a “firm commitment” maternity services in Moray will be fully restored when he addresses MSPs today.
The health secretary will outline the government’s next steps in a statement to be delivered at Holyrood on Wednesday afternoon.
It follows calls for consultant-led maternity services to be reinstated at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
Campaigners have kept up pressure on the Scottish Government to take action to rectify the situation which means most babies in Moray are in Aberdeen – 65 miles from Elgin.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said expectant mothers in Moray “must hear a firm commitment once and for all from Humza Yousaf that they will able to give birth at Dr Gray’s Hospital”.
It comes as a north-east maternal mental health charity reveals mums in Elgin are facing the highest levels of anxiety and birth trauma of the women they support.
Mr Ross, MP for Moray, said: “This situation has been going on for far too long and is simply unsustainable for a moment longer.
We cannot have a situation where every year hundreds of women are having to travel to Inverness or Aberdeen to give birth.
Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservative party leader
“The health secretary heard first-hand in the strongest possible terms last week when he met with dedicated campaigners what we want to see: namely the vast majority of Moray mums being able to give birth in Moray.
“At the heart of this is the safety of women and children. We cannot have a situation where every year hundreds of women are having to travel to Inverness or Aberdeen to give birth.
“I know from our own family experience just how terrifying it is to make that journey in labour with the potential that a mum may have to give birth in a lay-by.
“Humza Yousaf must listen to the concerns of frontline staff at Raigmore Hospital who say the option of them taking in expectant mothers from Moray simply isn’t workable.
“Nicola Sturgeon was re-elected on a commitment to restore consultant-led services at Dr Gray’s and her Health Secretary must honour that today.”
Campaign group Keep Mum have called for a roadmap with “clear milestones” in returning to a consultant led maternity unit to allow the “vast majority” of women from Moray and Banff to deliver their babies in Elgin.
Staff shortages led to a downgrade in maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital in 2018.
An independent review carried out in December recommended that pregnant women needing emergency delivery services should be transferred to Inverness rather than Aberdeen.
But consultant obstetricians and senior midwives say Raigmore doesn’t have the facilities or staff to deal with extra births and needs new investment.
Moray mums suffering anxiety, says charity
In December, a mum was forced to give birth in a lay-by on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road after being deemed “high risk” during labour.
Gill Skene, chair of Latnem, a charity offering maternal mental health support in the north-east, said they have seen increasing anxiety from mums in Elgin.
She said: “We see more anxiety and tokophobia (a severe fear of childbirth) and birth trauma in Elgin then we do in any other area that we operate in.
“We have a meeting in Aberdeen, in Inverurie, in Elgin and we also do a virtual Thursday morning.
“Elgin is…I don’t actually know if I’ve met a mum whose not suffering as a result of being very worried about childbirth or as a direct result of a traumatic birth from that area.
We see more anxiety and tokophobia (a severe fear of childbirth) and birth trauma in Elgin then we do in any other area that we operate in.”
Gill Skene, chair of maternal mental health charity Latnem
“A lot of the times when we’re receiving treatment for anxieties it’s all about rationalising the fears and you can’t when you’re suffering from tokophobia.
“When you’re trying to help someone rationalise their fears around what could happen when these really bad, scary things are happening to people day in and day out, you can’t, there’s no way to help them rationalise that.
“It’s a horrible situation.”
The health secretary visited Dr Gray’s and Raigmore hospitals last week where he met with clinicians and officials, as well as campaigners.
Speaking on the visit, Mr Yousaf said the government is committed to delivering the “best care for expectant mothers in Moray that meets their needs and expectations”.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Throughout this process it has been imperative for the health secretary to hear directly, as he did last week, from local people and the clinicians working in both Dr Gray’s and Raigmore hospitals.
“The health secretary will be setting out the Scottish Government’s next steps to deliver on our commitments in a statement to parliament today.”
More on Moray maternity services:
- Scottish Government to outline future of Moray’s maternity services after health secretary meets campaign group
- Demand for ‘crucial’ response on Moray maternity services
- ‘No one should have to give birth in a lay-by’: Douglas Ross demands action on Moray maternity service
- ‘It all felt like a bad dream’: Mum who gave birth in A96 lay-by calls for urgent restoration of Elgin maternity services
- ‘It was a nightmare’: New mum reveals ordeal in plea for maternity services at Dr Gray’s
- ‘I thought my baby was dead’: Nicola Sturgeon hears emotive testimony of Moray mums forced to travel to give birth