Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2017
I thank the minister for early sight of her statement. Conservative members welcome the report and the general principles and recommendations that it contains, and the consensual approach that the minister has professed.
We agree that mothers who are having a normal delivery should, where possible, have access to local or community-based maternity services. However, it is clear that there are still issues that the statement did not address. Let me name two. First, we are concerned about the reduction in intensive care units, with the current eight units being reduced to between three and five, and ultimately to three by the end of the current session of Parliament.
Secondly, there are still major issues with staffing, which the minister brushed over in her statement. When the Royal College of Midwives commented after the report was published, it outlined its concerns about retirement, saying that heads of midwifery are getting nearly double the number of retirements that they used to get. It also spoke of general recruitment issues, particularly in the Highlands and Grampian.
The report states:
“All women should have an appropriate level of choice in relation to place of birth and there are a number of choices that should be available to all women in Scotland including birth at home, birth in an alongside or freestanding midwifery unit, and hospital birth.”
To that end, what action will the minister take to ensure that all women in Scotland have that choice? Will the Government support provision of such services in rural and remote areas?