Local activists join together to tackle the 'healthcare crisis' in Caithness and Sutherland
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Local groups, councillors and campaigners have added their backing to Rebecca Wymer's petition for an emergency in-depth review of women's health services in Caithness and Sutherland.
A joint document – Healthcare Crisis in the North Highlands – has been drawn up to help highlight the plight of local women facing trips of over 100 miles to Raigmore since the downgrading of the maternity unit at Caithness General in November 2016.
Ms Wymer's petition, which closed on Monday, January 17, gained a great amount of support with 2752 signatures received.
The John O'Groats-based health campaigner, who lives with endometriosis, can relate to the problems she has encountered herself and considered moving away from the area when informed if she became pregnant she would need to move to Inverness for up to six weeks before giving birth.
She stated: "Asking families to do this, rather than supply local care is simply not acceptable – the economic ripple effect of poor women’s healthcare is unimaginably huge. Instead, I have decided to stay and fight for better care."
Ms Wymer (28), explained: "Upwards of 85 per cent of Caithness births are happening in Inverness and have been for some years. Travelling over 100 miles, often in active labour or in the back of a car is simply unsafe.
"To put that into perspective – that’s the same as asking someone in central Edinburgh to routinely travel to Newcastle for their care."
She added: "Our roads are not well surfaced, and the journey is often a dangerous one, due to adverse weather or heightened tourist traffic from the North Coast 500 route."
Contributing to the new dossier of statements are – Mr Iain Gregory, of Caithness Roads Recovery; local campaigner for improved healthcare Kirsteen Campbell; Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT); Matthew Reiss, independent councillor for Thurso and northwest Caithness and Jill Tilt, Liberal Democrat councillor for Wick and East Caithness.
Mr Gregory stated: "We fully support Rebecca Wymer's petition, and her drive to secure better health services for women in Caithness.
"For far too long, local residents have been expected to travel vast distances to access healthcare provision, sometimes involving a 250 mile round trip for those living in the most rural parts of the county."
He continued: "To expect a woman in pain, or a woman who is imminently due to give birth, to have to travel well over 100 miles is in itself completely unacceptable, but the road safety implications are dire.
"We call upon Scottish ministers, and our local MSP Maree Todd, to act, and act swiftly, to prevent suffering and a potential tragedy."
Local campaigner Mrs Campbell, who has been a gynaecology patient from the age of 15, stressed: "It deeply saddens me how our wonderful service has been downgraded and has left our county in an incredibly dangerous situation. Home does not feel safe."
She pointed out that women now needed to wait for gynaecologist consultation in Raigmore which could take a considerable amount of time. "This is also having a detrimental impact on mental health," Mrs Campbell said. "There is no emergency protocols for a hemorrhage or ectopic pregnancy – stabilise and transfer is not a satisfactory answer. Time is of the essence in those circumstances."
Councillor Tilt is also concerned about the problems women have in attending appointments in Inverness and the effect the situation is having on mental health.
She said: "This is totally unacceptable and can be sorted or even softened by having a couple of competent gynaecologists up for a couple of days a week, just as we had before."
"We need urgent action now," is the view of Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT), who have long-campaigned for improved local healthcare services.
In their contribution to the new dossier, the group states: "Caithness people are currently suffering from discrimination and believe they are being marginalised due to the continued centralisation of government services and resources.
"Many aspects of our healthcare have been centralised to Raigmore, leaving our community disempowered and vulnerable, with women, children and elderly being most detrimentally impacted.
"The Caithness community have spent over five years struggling to be heard and fighting to receive a fair and reasonable health service provided locally.
"We have lost many services we used to have locally such as obstetrics, paediatric, orthodontic, gynaecology, and specialist mental health support. Bed numbers in the county have been dramatically reduced."
Referring to the recently the COP26 and the government's steps to reduce the carbon footprint, they added: "NHS Highland’s policy should address the thousands of healthcare appointments that Caithness people are still having to make each year, with return journeys of over 200 miles.
"Over 200 mothers have to make the dangerous 200 mile round trip to Raigmore each year and often have to return again with their new born babies for issues that can be dealt with locally such as jaundice, hearing checks, or clicking hips.
"We understand that under the Caithness Redesign that some things might change but that is several years away and will not address these detrimental issues that women and their babies and families are experiencing."
Local councillor Matthew Reiss is also supporting Rebecca Wymer's petition and has contributed to the dossier.
"As a councillor my view is that the declining population in my ward, the worst in Highland, is partly caused by the current maternity unit downgrade, resulting in little over one baby per month being born in the refurbished maternity unit at Caithness General Hospital and a 40 per cent overall drop in the Caithness birth rate comparing 2020 with 2015, accepting 2015 had an unusually high number of births," he said.
"These circumstances should be a national scandal and I wholeheartedly support both Rebecca Wymer's petition and any and all efforts to reverse
the persistent decline in local health provision, despite some welcome changes, such as NHS Near Me."
As a former area commander for the police in Caithness, Mr Reiss feels his previous experience has shown that the current transport arrangements are not safe.
He stated: "At present I understand there are no four wheel drive ambulances. In recent years snowploughs have escorted ambulances on occasion. These are obvious risks... driver inexperience or fatigue, breakdowns, ice and even whiteout conditions are others."
Councillor Reiss added: "Caithness needs the Scottish Government to start listening, treating the area equally and immediately, taking a long hard look at the existing transport situation."
Related article: CHAT welcomes Rebecca Wymer's petition for better women's health services in Caithness and Sutherland
