Services continue to return to Dr Gray's
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MORE newborns will be looked after at Dr Gray's Hospital following the reopening this week of its special baby care unit.
The news was announced last week as NHS Grampian published the first phase of its plan to incrementally return maternity services in Moray to former levels.
The health board said its staffing situation had improved to a level where it was now safe to reopen the unit.
The children's ward has also returned well ahead of schedule to being open seven days a week, although it continues to be closed at night to new patients.
Both announcements follow the return of elective caesarean sections to Moray's flagship hospital. Dr Jamie Hogg, clinical director at Dr Gray's, said: "This is great news and the teams across the hospital – and across Grampian – have worked really hard to make it happen. Quite frankly, the progress that's been made has exceeded all our expectations.
"We do need to sound a note of caution though – the staffing issues we continue to face are extremely complex. It will still be some time before we are able to re-establish a full service."
Phase two of the plan, which will deal with long-term issues at the hospital, is expected to be published in the New Year.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: "The health board has reported progress in recent weeks with the percentage of local women delivering at Dr Gray's increasing from 13 per cent in August to 33 per cent in October. The Scottish Government will continue to work with NHS Grampian and also NHS Highland to ensure as many women are able to safely deliver locally as possible. Throughout this process I have been clear that maternity provision at Dr Gray's will remain, and that has not changed. I now await the second stage of the plan early in the new year. This will outline how the health board plan to return to obstetric care at Dr Gray's. I have also asked for a more detailed report on paediatric services to be submitted to me in December. My focus now is to ensure that we have a strong and deliverable plan for re-instating a full consultant-led maternity service at Dr Gray's."
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: "It was a bitter blow earlier this year when the hospital not only closed the children's ward to admissions at night, but then the service was cut further so that the children's ward was open only from Monday to Friday.
"It seems that a combination of permanent paediatric staff and locums are now in place at Dr Gray's to cover a rota that will allow the children's ward to be open every day from 8am to 10pm, which is a welcome move.
"Unfortunately, there are still not enough staff to be able to return to a 24-hour service for sick children in Moray. That seems to be as far away as ever, unfortunately, because the next intake of junior doctors takes place in February and I am told by NHS Grampian that the recruitment position here is bleak. The rota involving the additional paediatric staff does, however, mean that the Special Care Baby Unit at Dr Gray's has reopened. So, we are moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. I hope that work will continue to restore full services in the children's ward and maternity unit."
