Third of mums-to-be travelling 100 miles to give birth
ALMOST a third of pregnant local women had to travel more than 100 miles to give birth due to a lack of specialist facilities at Caithness General Hospital last year.
The number of expectant mothers transported to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness last year remains among the highest recorded.
Figures obtained by the Caithness Courier show during 2013, a total of 244 women living in the county gave birth.
Of those, 169 gave birth in the Henderson unit at Caithness General Hospital (CGH) while 75 were ferried to Inverness, a total of 31 per cent.
It is the same percentage as 2012, when 89 out of 288 women went to Inverness to give birth, meaning almost one in three women in the far north have been moved out of the county when in labour over the last two years.
In 2005, only 30 out of 289 women (12 per cent) travelled south to give birth but in 2009 there was a huge rise when the number jumped to 25 per cent compared to 15 per cent in 2008.
Samantha Troy (25), of Murchison Street, Wick, gave birth to her second son at CGH on Monday morning.
But two years ago, when she delivered her first son Robert, she was forced to travel to Inverness due to problems with her asthma which health staff said put her health and baby at risk.
She had nothing but praise for the services currently at CGH but said money needed to be invested in the facility so it could cater for all expectant mothers – whether their labours are high-risk or not.
"It’s a shame if your pregnancy is deemed at high-risk you have to go to Raigmore as I know mothers would rather be here," she said yesterday.
"When I was told it would be safer to have my first pregnancy in Inverness, I had to stay at Kyle Court one week before my baby was due and ended up there for three weeks.
"I had to share a room with three people and also share bathroom facilities.
"There was nobody down there for me and I felt like I was going through it all alone. At least in CGH you have your friends and family there to support you.
"I would like to see more money invested into CGH to cater for high-risk pregnancies as it’s a stressful experience going to Inverness."
The top-floor maternity unit in Wick is consultant-led, with obstetricians and anaesthetists providing a service seven days a week and an on-call service out-of-hours.
There is no intensive adult or neo-natal care unit and no consultant paediatric support on site and all women are screened to ensure any high-risk pregnancies are referred to Raigmore.Unlike CGH, the city hospital offers an epidural service for pain relief in labour.
The maternity unit has been reviewed three times in the past decade and during the last one in 2010, NHS Highland sought to do away with the three consultants and put midwives in charge of the unit.
NHS Highland north lead midwife Mary Burnside said more women were travelling south to give birth because of stricter risk assessment guidelines.
"We have a clinical risk criteria which all women are assessed against and based on this, women will be advised to deliver in either Raigmore or Caithness," she said.
"Risk criteria has changed over the years in line with clinical evidence, research and guidance.
"The BMI [body mass index] threshold is an example of this, where women with a BMI over 35 are now recommended to deliver in Raigmore unit.
"We are also now seeing more women with complex medical histories. Caithness maternity has always had a risk assessment criteria and offers local birth for low-risk pregnancies.
"This is in accordance with evidence-based guidance and ensures the safest outcomes for mothers and babies."
Health and social care public and patient representative David Flear said safety of the mother had to be paramount.
"We have to balance what is possible and what is safe at CGH, we still have an excellent maternity unit which is obstetrician-led but there are times when women are seen at bigger risk staying in Wick than going to Raigmore," he said.
"If women were being transferred, which would result in work being taken away from CGH, I would have a problem with that, but high-risk pregnancies are moved to Raigmore in the interests of the patient.
"Some people say more money should be spent on hospital services in Caithness but if there was money available, what would be the greatest need to spend it on?"