Moray MP Douglas Ross has raised concerns being expressed locally about the downgrading of maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital, in the House of Commons.
Commenting after raising the subject with the Leader of the House today, Douglas said: “Yesterday’s announcement from NHS Grampian that from August the majority of maternity services in Moray will be moved away from Dr Gray’s hospital due to a shortage in junior doctors, was hugely disappointing, and we need to make our case loud and clear for this decision to be reversed.
“I repeated in the chamber today what I said yesterday, that hundreds of pregnant women will have to travel to Aberdeen to give birth. In my opinion, this journey could put mothers and babies at risk, particularly on difficult rural roads in winter.”
He added: “The Leader of the House agreed with me and local Keep MUM campaigners that these proposals present grave concerns about safety and I was glad to hear her say that good quality local health care is absolutely key.”
“I will go further than that. Although, NHS Grampian say this will definitely happen from the start of August for up to 18 months, who is to say this isn’t closure of the unit by stealth?
“It is bad enough that the children’s ward is now closed overnight which we were promised wasn’t going to happen, and now this.
“We need everyone pulling together on this issue and Scottish Health Secretary needs to take action to reverse this decision before it is implemented and I have written to her to ask her to come to Moray and meet with myself and campaigners and I would hope to have cross party support so we can campaign as a community on this.
“In a rural area, a midwife-led maternity unit and a day-only children’s ward is just not enough and NHS Scotland needs to resolve this.”
“I will campaign vociferously against the plans to downgrade Moray’s maternity services.”