Health in Moray: £9m plan for Inverness maternity services
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Keep MUM says plans to invest nearly £9 million in maternity wards and services at Raigmore Hospital do not change the situation in Moray.
The plans for the transformational investment of the Inverness hospital's maternity services have gone before Highland Council
They include spending £5 million on new buildings or improving those already in existence.
Another £3.8 million would also be spent on brining in 56 new staff, including doctors, consultants, nurses and midwives.
The Keep MUM group has been campaigning for a full maternity service to be restored at Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin ever since it was "temporarily" downgraded in 2018 due to a lack of consultants.
Upwards of 80% of Moray women have since been forced to travel to either Aberdeen or Inverness in order to give birth.
Marj Adams, a leading light in Keep MUM, stated that the group would welcome maternity services at Raigmore being improved, but added it didn't change the situation in Moray.
She said: "Raigmore needs an upgrade in its maternity services – there's no question about that.
"But they need to be improved for women from the Highlands, not for women from Moray.
"What women in Moray need is the restoration of a consultant-led obstetrics service at Dr Gray's.
"In the short-term though, if more women needing emergency procedures could be transferred to Inverness rather than Aberdeen, then that would be helpful."
NHS Highland’s planning application details how the maternity department at Raigmore would be re-shaped and upgraded, with a brand new two-storey extension.
There would also be alterations to the road layout and turning area.
Last month the Scottish Government announced a £6.6 million funding package aimed at progressing moves towards an integrated maternity service for the north of Scotland, developed jointly by NHS Grampian and NHS Highland.
The cash was for a refurbishment of maternity facilities at Raigmore Hospital as well as to support a return to consultant-led care at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin by 2025.
Planning documents now before officials feature an artists’ impressions of how it would look.
The accompanying design statement reads: "The project is to develop a facility that will provide additional capacity and a modern, safe and compliant environment to deliver maternity services for the next 10-plus years."
Raigmore Hospital was largely built in 1941.
Its maternity unit has grown increasingly busy in recent years after elements of maternity care were transferred from Caithness General Hospital in 2016 and from Moray in 2018.
