Call for review into Caithness women's health services

Women in Caithness and Sutherland say their concerns over access to health care are not being heard.

People in the north Highlands can face round trips of 210 miles (338km) or more to get to Inverness for obstetrics and gynaecology services.

Campaigners said there were also long waiting times for specialists and have called for a review of provision.

The Scottish government and NHS Highland said they were committed to providing the care needed.

The health board said it provided a number of services locally.

For years there have been calls for increased provision of obstetrics and gynaecology, services focused on the care of pregnant women and unborn babies and women's sexual and reproductive health.

In 2016, the maternity unit at Caithness General in Wick was downgraded from consultant-led to midwife-led. Most first-time mothers are sent to Inverness' Raigmore Hospital for births.

Community organisation North Highland Women's Wellness Hub (NHWWH) said gynaecology and sexual health services had become increasingly centralised.

It said emergency gynaecology care and surgical service were not available locally. It also claimed a consultant had only been available 31 weeks of the year in 2021-22 and that 12% of gynaecology procedures were carried out at Caithness General.

Earlier this month, NHWWH posted a recent Nasa image of a snow-covered Highlands to illustrate the challenges faced by women travelling to Inverness in winter.

NHWWH supports 500 women across its groups and said the majority of them had to use services at Raigmore, with discharges home often happening late at night.

A spokeswoman said: "Safe obstetrics are vital, but women are more than just baby-makers. Gynaecology is essential for women throughout their lives."

The group said local women had a great relationship with NHS Highland's "incredible" staff, adding: "They ooze passion and dedication. They are also over-run, over-stretched and underappreciated by the decision-makers and purse holders."

NHWWH has called on MSPs to demand for a review of women's health services in Caithness and Sutherland.

Nicole Gunn, 19, is among local women who have personal experience of long journeys to access services.

She travelled from Thurso to Inverness twice around the time of her daughter Amelia's birth last April.

Ms Gunn said: "The second time I was going to be sent home again but my mum and myself put our foot down and I was allowed to stay in hospital."

Chloe Bunch, a mum in Wick, told BBC Scotland's My Kind of Town series it was a shame pregnant women had to travel so far for births.

She said: "The staff and the midwives are absolutely amazing. They are worth their weight in gold, but are just so limited in what they can do.

"They prepare us in the best way they can."

Public Health Minister Maree Todd said the Scottish government was determined to ensure women in the north of Scotland had access to the care and services they required.

She said the government's Our Women's Health Plan raised awareness about women's health and aimed to reduce health inequalities for girls and women.

Ms Todd said: "We have made good progress in the first year, including improved access to accurate and consistent information by launching a Women's Health platform on NHS Inform, improved access to services with a menopause specialist service in place in each mainland health board and a buddy system in the islands, and we launched a joint research call with Wellbeing for Women on endometriosis."

On Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that Prof Anna Glasier OBE had been appointed as the first Women's Health Champion for Scotland to help drive forward actions in the women's health plan.

NHS Highland said it had formal meetings with NHWWH and was also in regular contact with the group to provide it with updates on services and what was available in the Caithness area.

The health board said Caithness General had provision for patients in general gynaecology including menopause, endometriosis, pelvic floor, postmenopausal bleeding, colposcopy and day gynaecology surgery.

It said among other services there were two visiting consultants, one from Orkney and the other from Tayside, adding that gynaecology patients seen at Caithness General outpatient clinic generally had shorter waiting times compared with those waiting to access Raigmore Hospital.

NHS Highland also said there was a gynaecology specialist nurse running colposcopy clinics in Golspie, which the health board said involved a shorter journey than going to Inverness.

It said all gynaecology cancer cases in NHS Highland were managed by the North of Scotland Cancer Network, while all subfertility cases needing tertiary care input were affiliated to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as part of a service level agreement. Tests were carried out locally where practical.

A spokesman added: "While we no longer have Caithness-based sexual health clinicians, with the exception of one GP doing a monthly coil clinic, all our sexual health clinical staff travel to Caithness from Raigmore.

"This is likely to continue to maintain clinical support and competency for clinicians."