Leadership contenders take on maternity question
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CANDIDATES for First Minister agreed that mums' safety was their top priority but were silent on speeding up changes at Dr Gray's.
Speaking at a debate hosted by Northern Scot sister paper the Inverness Courier, the hopefuls said maternity services in Moray, as well as in Caithness, are not good enough.
Despite a recent funding announcement of £6.6 million to restore a consultant led maternity service at Dr Gray's by 2026, no substantial changes to care will happen in 2023 or 2024.
Health secretary Humza Yousaf said that, if he were to become First Minister, he would focus on improving background factors stopping consultants working in rural areas.
He said: "First and foremost, in any decision about Caithness and about Dr Gray's, the woman and the unborn children are our priority.
"If we could have a consultant led service tomorrow, there is nobody in government that would deny that.
"So what is stopping the workforce?
"First off, we know there are issues around housing, for example.
"And there are issues around education.
"One of the plans I have, for example, is putting £25 million towards being able to buy empty properties to put them back into social housing for key workers.
"If we deal with that issue then it helps with our recruitment.
"We will do everything in our gift to try to get the workforce there."
Ash Regan agreed that safety had to be the top priority and drew on her personal experience.
She also said she would "look at" improvements to maternity services but said nothing about potential policies.
She said: "Humza is right in the sense that safety is really important for the mother and the baby.
"I have twins myself and I was not allowed to go to a midwife led unit because it was considered to be higher risk.
"So they wanted me to go to a different hospital which was further away.
"For some people, it will perhaps never be possible to give birth very, very close to home.
"But if I was First Minister I would look at this and see what I could do, but I can't tell you exactly what I would do right now."
Kate Forbes said improving maternity service required politicians to "fundamentally rethink how the NHS operates".
She also emphasised measures to train and retain consultants in rural areas.
She said: "I can't think of another colleague who can match Humza in terms of his compassion and his desire to solve problems, but when it comes to this particular issue I think it requires us to fundamentally rethink how the NHS operates.
"And it fundamentally requires us to ensure that we empower our front line.
"Because they are ultimately the people who are going to enable those women to not to have to travel.
"Students who come from Scotland and study medicine in Scotland are far more likely to stay in Scotland.
"We also know that students from rural areas who study in Scotland are far more likely to return to rural areas.
"So when we are talking about consultants there is more that needs done in terms of a route to studying locally.
"It is about getting more people willing to commit to these communities.
"Like we had in the days of old when you had local individuals, local doctors and nurses, who were totally committed to their local area."
The hopefuls' statements came in the wake of fresh comments from campaign group Keep MUM, which said Moray maternity was far from "done and dusted" in reaction to the news that only eight babies were born at Dr Gray's in January.
Spokesperson Katie Watson also described the transfer of expectant mothers to Aberdeen during the late stages of labour as "barbaric" and potentially having "huge effects on mental and physical health".
She also said politicians had to make changes ahead of the 2025 and 2026 schedule.
