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Highland MSP praises midwives


By Tom Ramage

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Highlands and Islands MSP, Edward Mountain has celebrated the work of Highland midwives during a Holyrood debate,.

Edward Mountain MSP
Edward Mountain MSP

The event, on Wednesday (May 8) marked the International Day of the Midwife.

Mr Mountain praised the passion and dedication of midwives across the Highlands and welcomed the new midwifery course offered by UHI, which specialises in providing maternity services in remote and rural Scotland.

At the same time, he cautioned the Scottish Government against measures to downgrade maternity services.

In his speech he said: “When I attended NHS Highland’s Annual Review it was clear that the centralisation of services to Raigmore Hospital and maternity provision in Caithness remain big concerns in the region.”

He continued: “We have seen a concerning repeat of the situation where ambulances are transporting mothers who are in labour to Raigmore."

Last year out of the 219 mothers from Caithness that gave birth, only 18 births took place at Caithness General.

"Numbers like that are of huge concern to families planning to have children in Caithness, many of whom would prefer to give birth locally and avoid the long stressful journey south to Inverness.

"Centralisation is not working for new families and it’s not working for midwifery units, which under the SNP have become understaffed and overstretched.”


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