'Fundamentally flawed' maternity plan for Moray, using Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, attacked
A plan to use Raigmore Hospital as an ‘overspill’ for Moray maternity services is still being pursued by the government – despite “patient safety concerns”.
Almost two dozen senior staff at the hospital have published an open letter slamming the move, which followed previous pledges by health secretary Humza Yousaf to restore the maternity unit at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
Mr Yousaf has given “cast iron” guarantees that a consultant-led maternity services will return to the Elgin hospital and has insisted that the Scottish Government remains committed to its restoration.
But he added that a plan to use a midwifery-led unit linked to Raigmore Hospital, known as Model 4, is an important step to achieving this.
His comments have not gone down well with NHS staff or the area’s politicians, the latter of whom have branded his plan a “total let down”.
And the letter from Raigmore staff has urged the Scottish Government to scrap Model 4 and move onto Model 6 – the re-instatement of a consultant led maternity service at Dr Gray’s in Elgin.
In their letter to Mr Yousaf, the Inverness staff warn that the approved plan “does not specifically acknowledge” their previously raised patient safety concerns, even though “they have been outlined to NHS Highland’s senior management team on multiple occasions”.
They added: “[The plan] does not address them [and] is predicated on a transparently and wildly inaccurate underestimate of the number of Moray patients who would deliver at Raigmore Hospital.”
They also warned that the plan’s proposals to spend £5 million “on a clinically disruptive refurbishment” of the maternity unit on its existing footprint would add “not one single bed to its capacity” and lacks a “credible decant plan” while the works are carried out.
“[It] makes no attempt to assess whether Model 4 can be achieved, nor when it can be achieved,” the warned. “Model 4 remains fundamentally flawed”.
Speaking about the proposals in Holyrood this week, Mr Yousaf tried to assure patients and staff that the government had been listening. He said: “Having met with local campaign groups and the relevant health boards this week, before giving approval to the Model 4 plans I am very clear that further work is required, and there are elements to be worked through locally and nationally to deliver for families in Moray.
“I have also heard very clearly the concerns raised by clinicians and have asked our External Assurance Panel to provide me with a level of reassurance around assumptions in Model 4 plans.”
But his remarks did not convince local politicians. Highlands and Islands Tory MSP Douglas Ross slammed Mr Yousaf’s statement. He said: “Humza Yousaf cannot continue to bury his head in the sand. He must listen to the clinicians who wrote to him in no uncertain terms ahead of this statement.
“It feels like we are further away than ever from a return of consultant-led services at Dr Gray’s but I will not stop challenging the SNP government until that happens.”
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “The Cabinet Secretary says that he hears concerns from clinicians and community campaign groups but he offers no solutions on how to resolve these issues. Moray women are still going to have to travel great distances to give birth and clinicians in Raigmore Hospital still have safety concerns.”
