ON a freezing cold January afternoon in 2017, expectant mother Pranjali Christian felt her contractions start. It was four weeks before her due date…
Pranjali Christian was forced to travel all the way from Thurso to Inverness in the middle of the night to give birth to her daughter Nicole
“I was there , and I predicted the impact on our obstetric and gynaecology services,” Kirsteen Campbell of the North Highland Women’s Wellbeing Hub told The Ferret. Women, said maternity campaigners, are scared of making the journey to Inverness, which they claim can be dangerous. In 2022, there were four fatalities on the A9 north of Inverness and the road was closed 19 times due to accidents, including those caused by deer running out in front of cars. Many places en route have no phone signal, there are no toilets available for labouring women to use and in summer the road is busy with tourists.
In 2021, more than half of women giving birth from Caithness were induced. The rest of Scotland was just 33% and in the Highlands, it was 36%. Statistics from 2022 – the most recent available – show that has decreased in the Highlands to 30%. When she became pregnant with her fourth child and was due to give birth in February 2020, Kate found out she had an infection that could be passed on to the baby and would need to have an antibiotic drip during labour.
Kate wished she could have had her baby in the local hospital at Wick and wonders whether if she and the baby had been given more time, the birth could have happened naturally, avoiding induction and the C-section.It isn’t just the commute during labour that mums are frustrated and scared by. There are also concerns for mothers and babies with serious health conditions and in need of emergency medical intervention for placental abruption, ectopic pregnancy, twisted ovaries and haemorrhages.
FOR the past seven years, Maria Aitken, secretary for Caithness Health Action Team , has been campaigning for a consultant-supported midwifery unit in Caithness, meeting with health ministers, MPs and MSPs to discuss concerns about the current model. “They have all the safety measures in place and are confident in meeting all Best Start Standards; a promise given to all mums and their families in Scotland no matter where they live. The only issues stopping Caithness getting this maternity model are costs and time.”
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