Meeting of the Parliament 16 January 2025
I congratulate Tim Eagle not just on securing tonight’s debate but on the tour de force speech that he gave on issues affecting his constituents—our constituents—in the Highlands and Islands and other people across rural Scotland.
The issues that I raise tonight will not be a surprise to the cabinet secretary; I have raised them many times in the chamber before, and I will keep coming here and raising them until we see improvements and change.
The first issue is that of the save our surgeries Burghead and Hopeman group. Some of the campaigners were going to come down to the Parliament to watch the debate when it was previously scheduled, and they had hoped to be here today; however, because of illness, they are not. When I met them on Monday, they wanted the cabinet secretary and his ministers to know that they will be watching the debate at home in Moray to hear—they hope—a positive response.
Last month, when I raised the campaigners’ concerns and their proposals for a nurse-led unit in Burghead to replace the GP surgeries in Burghead and Hopeman that they have lost, they hoped to hear positive news, but they did not get it: from Jenni Minto, they got a point-blank refusal.
I asked the campaigners for their words, because I do not want to make this a party-political issue. They said that I could tell members that they were “bitterly disappointed”. They also said that it is “very frustrating”, given the positive meeting—which I attended—that they had had with Jenni Minto in Burghead in the summer. I hope that, following the proposals from the save our surgeries Burghead and Hopeman group, the cabinet secretary and his ministers will reconsider the plan, because, without Scottish Government support, it will go no further.
There is an opportunity to show the local group—campaigners who are dedicated to services in their area—that there is an opportunity to have a nurse-led service in Burghead. I have written to the cabinet secretary to ask that, if ministers continue to say that they will not support the plan, they tell us the funding calculation that they have made on the proposal. Without that, it will seem as though the local group is being fobbed off when there is a real opportunity to provide a local service.
The other issue that I want to raise, which has been on-going since 2018 and which I have mentioned repeatedly in the chamber is the lack of consultant-led maternity services at Dr Gray’s hospital. I spoke to Marj Adams and Kirsty Watson of the keep MUM—maternity unit for Moray—campaign group ahead of the debate. The points—both positive and concerning—that they want to get across are important.
On a positive note, Marj and Kirsty said that they are really encouraged by the system of consultation that is being held locally and by the local staff at Dr Gray’s hospital, who are pushing that forward. Like me, they are positive that elective caesareans could return to Dr Gray’s soon. If we could get a date for that, that would be welcome news in Moray.
Marj and Kirsty are slightly more concerned about the Dr Gray’s strategy planning paper that went to the NHS Grampian board on 12 December. Quite apart from anything else, it was quite a concerning report. What public consultation was there by NHS Grampian in order to hear from people in Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen city—in particular from those in Moray who rely on Dr Gray’s? Where was the public engagement? There does not seem to have been much. Marj and Kirsty stated that they have heard from several NHS staff that they fear that, at NHS Grampian board level, the commitment to the restoration of the consultant-led maternity unit at Dr Gray’s is weak.
The reason why we need the unit back again is clear from a freedom of information response that I have received about the number of babies born to Moray parents since 2018 who were born outwith the area. Of the more than 5,500 babies born to Moray parents since 2018, just over 1,000 were born at Dr Gray’s; more than 4,200 were born in either Aberdeen or Inverness. They need to be born locally. We need that service back up and running, because, on top of that, almost 550 Moray mums, including my wife, have had to have a blue-light ambulance transfer to give birth. It needs to get a lot better, and I hope that the cabinet secretary will listen to those points and act urgently.
17:23