Maternity services at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin were downgraded in 2018 due to staff shortages, forcing approximately 75% of all Moray Mums to give birth 65 miles away in Aberdeen.
NHS Grampian's birth statistics are posted publicly on the services Facebook page each month.
Only 11 births took place at Dr Gray's Hospital each month in May, June and July of 2022 .
More than 300 births took place at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital in each of the summer months, although it is not known how many Moray mums were part of this figure.
The birth statistics for the months of May, June and July for each hospital from 2020-2022 can be seen in the graph below.
In a statement, Keep MUM's spokesperson Kirsty Watson said: "There were 11 births in Dr Gray's Hospital in July 2022.
"By way of comparison, there were 64 births in Borders General Hospital in July. Borders General Hospital is a consultant led maternity unit which has a similar number of births to what we had in Elgin before we were downgraded in 2018.
"Nearly all Moray births are happening in Aberdeen which is unacceptable on any grounds. Some much more rural areas of Scotland have a better service – for example, we understand that two thirds of Orkney babies are born on Orkney.
"Only 11 births in Dr Gray’s Hospital in July demonstrates that our unit simply can’t function as a midwifery led unit because it is too far away from specialist obstetric help. No health provider, in 2022, would contemplate setting up a midwifery led unit so far away from specialist help, yet this is what Moray and Banff families have been suffering since 2018.
"Travelling so far to access specialist maternity services is causing severe anxiety. During their pregnancies, expectant Moray mums do not know where they will give birth and this huge level of unpredictability is highly stressful. You might be booked for Elgin, but you could easily be transferred to Aberdeen, enduring a blue light ambulance journey.
"Women dread being so far away from specialist help so some women opt to be booked for Aberdeen in the first place. If there was a specialist maternity unit in Elgin, they would choose to give birth there.
"We are waiting for the Scottish Government to tell us if they're accepting the NHS Grampian/NHS Highland plan for a community maternity unit networked with Raigmore Hospital. We can’t support the plan as it currently stands because it offers minimal benefit to a small number of women.
"No one has explained to us how a community maternity unit at Dr Gray's Hospital, linked to Raigmore Hospital, will lead to a consultant led unit in Elgin. It has also been suggested that it might take 10 years to establish a consultant led maternity service at Dr Gray’s. Why? That timescale is unacceptable.
"NHS Grampian has not, in the past, been committed to maintaining a consultant led maternity service in Elgin. If they are committed now, they must do much more to demonstrate that commitment.
"We do not have a fair service. Our maternity service is grossly inferior to the rest of Grampian."
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: "We are absolutely committed to the implementation if Model 4, with progression to Model 6, as laid out in the Roberts Review."
Article from The Northern Scot
