Ross concerns over Dr Gray's maternity service
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DOUGLAS Ross has expressed disappointment that a significant percentage of pregnant mums will continue to be unable to give birth locally.
Moray's MP met with senior managers from NHS Grampian earlier today.
Commenting afterwards, he said: "Top of the agenda was the future of the maternity unit at Dr Gray’s.
"While I welcome the progress that has been made, it is clear we are still some way off a return to the full-service people in Moray want and deserve.
"Originally, we were told the downgrading would last for up to a year, which should have seen the full service re-introduced this August, but that will clearly now not happen.
"It’s now been suggested it could be as much as another year before the plans that have been developed to redesign the service are fully introduced.
"I also took the opportunity to get updates on the cottage hospitals around Moray and the plans for a new health centre and hospital in Keith. I’m pleased the health board are engaging constructively on these issues.
"Waiting times continue to be far too high in Moray and across NHS Grampian so I again raised this concern which was acknowledged, and we discussed various interventions that had been put in place to reduce the time local patients in Moray have to wait for their treatment.
"The performance of everyone employed by the NHS in Moray continues to be viewed extremely positively and this is something I can speak for myself given the recent outstanding care we received when our son was born last month.
"That said, I continue to receive many concerns from constituents relating to NHS Grampian which means there is still a lot of work we all have to do to ensure patients in Moray get the level of care they expect.
"While I’m disappointed the Scottish Health Minister refused to be part of this meeting, it was useful to get an update on a range of issues I’ve been contacted about by concerned constituents."
