MOTHERS and babies could die unless a maternity unit is reopened for deliveries in Stranraer, it has been warned.
The unit at Galloway Community Hospital axed birthing services in 2018, meaning that mums in the area now have to travel up to 80 miles to deliver their babies, with some not making it in time.
A recent birth took place at the end of a farm road when mum Megan McCrone, from the Isle of Whithorn, was trying to reach the maternity unit in Dumfries. Both mum and baby daughter survived but campaigners believe it is only a matter of time before there is a tragedy.
Debbie Kelly from Newton Stewart is one of the mothers calling for an overhaul of maternity services in rural areas after she was sent home from Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, despite having contractions with her sixth child.
Shortly after she returned home the baby started to come and was born in an ambulance at a layby on the A745 near Gatehouse. Daughter Edith survived but Kelly has suffered mental anguish over what might have happened.
Claire Fleming, of Galloway Community Hospital Action Group, has calculated she has travelled 7680 miles to Dumfries from Glenluce for pregnancy related visits and along with three successful births, has had one stillbirth. She suffered hyperemesis during each pregnancy and vomited regularly en route to hospital.
At an emotional virtual meeting with Maree Todd, Minister for Public Health, Fleming said she knew of over 100 mums scared and worried about roadside deliveries on their way to Dumfries, with some women reluctant to become pregnant because of the lack of local facilities.
Now the campaign group is to meet tomorrow (Monday) to push for action after Todd visited the unit in person at the end of October after being moved by Fleming’s account.
“I am not trying to be dramatic and I don’t want to make mothers scared but we are going to have a dead mother and a dead baby before we know it,” said retired GP Angela Armstrong, a member of the action group. “A lot of babies have already been born at the side of the road.”
Dumfries and Galloway Health Board has blamed the problem on a shortage of midwives but Armstrong said that although the group was “not unsympathetic” about the problem they still needed a solution.
“What we need is someone to do something more as far as the health board and the Scottish Government are concerned, to make it worthwhile for midwives to want to come here.
“The Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has promised to look at Caithness where they have a similar problem and we want the Scottish Government to have a decent look at our maternity services and get us some midwives.”
She added: “Maree Todd appears very sympathetic and is going to speak to the Scottish Government and the health board to see what they can do but I have seen promises for all sorts of things and the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
“And what I want to see is mothers safely delivered of their babies.”
Dr Armstrong, who is now 80, said that when she did her obstetrics training in Glasgow’s Rottenrow there was “real concern” for the safety of mothers and babies.
“It wasn’t like the old days when it was normal for babies to die or for mothers to die – I would have hoped things would be much better in 2022 but they are certainly not better here,” she said.
A local scanning service was restarted in 2020 but the action group say that is not enough.
SNP MSP Emma Harper has agreed the current situation regarding Wigtownshire maternity is “not adequate” and women should be able to give birth as close to home as possible. No woman should have to give birth on the side of the A75,” she said.
The Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: “I met with the local Galloway Community Hospital
Action Group at the end of October, we had a very fruitful meeting and it was an absolute pleasure to meet them in person for the first time.
“There were various concerns raised and I have promised to take these to the health board and that we will meet again early next year to continue working to improve services for local people.”
A spokesperson for the Dumfries and Galloway Health Board said: “Staffing pressures including very significant challenges around recruiting to vacant posts has meant that despite these efforts the intrapartum service has been suspended since 2018.
“The Scottish Perinatal Network are reviewing the remote and rural transfer processes nationally, to coordinate an approach to the safe transfer of women in labour, within which Dumfries and Galloway Maternity Services are represented.
“A recent motion to Full Council in Dumfries and Galloway called for a local service review to determine inequity and inequality of maternity services in Wigtownshire. This was supported.”
The health board’s spokesperson added: “Dumfries and Galloway Integration Joint Board will consider the remit of this and consult with Scottish Government colleagues regarding external input to the process and any proposed timelines.”
