Mum blasts NHS Highland after nightmare journey
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A WICK mother was forced to travel to Inverness in extreme weather to give birth on the same day an NHS Highland chief refused to travel to Wick to attend a meeting about maternity services due to a stormy forecast.
Liz Redmond endured a two-hour journey to Raigmore Hospital while in labour in an ambulance which had to contend with flooded roads and 70 mph winds that battered the Highlands in February.
It was the same day NHS Highland chief executive Elaine Mead cancelled her trip from Inverness to Wick to attend a meeting about maternity services at Caithness General because of storms which hit the Highlands.
With winter approaching and in advance of next weekend’s bed push from Thurso to Wick to highlight concern about local NHS services, she is urging NHS Highland to reverse the trend of more mothers-to-be from the far north being forced to travel to Inverness to give birth in all weathers.
Strict protocols have been in place at the top-floor Henderson unit in Wick over the last 12 months following the death of a newborn.
First-time mothers and anyone assessed as at risk during pregnancy are required to go to Raigmore.
Miss Redmond (36), of Harrow Terrace, Wick, was told she would be unable to give birth at Caithness General as she had an infection.
The decision that she had to travel more than 100 miles from home to give birth to her second son, Danny, turned her world upside down.
She said: “I received a letter through the post saying I was likely to have to go to Inverness for a section.
“I was absolutely devastated. I was thrown into a mode of what will I do about childcare for my 10-year-old? What will I do about my animals? What if I go into labour and have to travel in my car?
“I would get upset regularly and cry often.
I didn’t want to be away from home – I didn’t want to leave my family.”
In February, Miss Redmond started having labour pains three weeks early and was taken by ambulance to Inverness.
But her partner and oldest son Curtis weren’t allowed to go with her in the ambulance and instead drove to Raigmore in the stormy conditions.
Upon arrival, staff told Miss Redmond that Curtis would not be able to stay with her.
Her partner’s parents were forced to travel from Reay to take Curtis and find a hotel to stay the night in Inverness.
She said: “The hospital does not allow any other family members to stay, other than the fathers, which is truly unacceptable and unfair.
“My son and partner had to stay in a hotel at our own cost for two nights. No one could take my son home and look after him. There was so much upset, heartache, sadness, confusion and disruption at a time in which I should have been at my most happiest.
“If I had been able to have my son in Wick, I would have been settled and content prior to giving birth.
“Going to Inverness was a very lonely experience.
“I felt stripped bare of any decisions and almost of any joy of being in labour as everything had been so disruptive and unsettling.”
Miss Redmond will be taking part in the bed push protest between Dunbar Hospital in Thurso and Caithness General on Sunday, October 23.
She hopes it will make NHS Highland look at safeguarding the future of the consultant led service in Wick and look to improve, not downgrade, the unit.
She said: “Someone travelling from Dingwall to Inverness does not face the same difficulties as someone from Wick being transferred to Raigmore.
“Nothing can be done two hours away from home.
“I’m sure there are people with bigger families than I have that could’ve been in an even more stressful situation.
“We pay the same tax and national insurance as the rest of Scotland but are not receiving the same level of service.
“Girls sitting at home who are due to give birth soon must be very nervous about the prospect of going into labour.
“Steps need to be in place to allow more women to give birth in Wick.”
A spokesman for NHS Highland said reviews into maternity provision are ongoing.
He said: “There has been no change pending the outcome of a review which is being carried out by NHS Highland with external input.
“This review is ongoing and we hope to be in a position to take some recommendations to the board of NHS Highland this year or early next year.”
