PDA

View Full Version : CGH Maternity Services



hillheader
10-Dec-09, 22:40
Has anyone heard that the Caithness General maternity ward will be closing or at the minimum, reducing the service?

Are NHS Highland trying to end these vital services slowly without protest by the locals ??

It is bad enough that there are no pediatrician services.[evil]

Stack Rock
10-Dec-09, 22:54
Haven't heard anything yet. I wouldent put it past them as they are quite devious and would try any underhand measure to cut costs by reducing their commitments to outlying communities.

lynne duncan
10-Dec-09, 22:56
shout louder!!!!!!!!

Dadie
10-Dec-09, 23:11
in raigmore as you debate. they wontletme home until i have the gestational diabetes under control or i deliver my baby. even if i get home i will have to go back to raigmoe to have my baby. not good.

ps using handset thingy in hosp. and it doesnt like me

:eek:

carasmam
10-Dec-09, 23:24
in raigmore as you debate. they wontletme home until i have the gestational diabetes under control or i deliver my baby. even if i get home i will have to go back to raigmoe to have my baby. not good.

ps using handset thingy in hosp. and it doesnt like me

:eek:

Hope you get home soon Dadie, you must be climbing the walls

ShelleyCowie
10-Dec-09, 23:25
Oh for goodness sake! WHY are they doing this? The next hospital is over 100 miles away from where i am (thurso). And i found it hard enough getting to wick!! I was on the bus to wick and back....daily basis....in labour! Cant imagine if i had to take a bus down to ness just to have a bairn!

Do they not know how much we need that unit? Their reasons for closing surely can not be due to lack of staff because the 9 days i was there i hardly saw the same face twice! The staff there are lovely.

Well thats me in a rant before bed. grr! I really dont want it to close!

What can we do?

BINBOB
10-Dec-09, 23:27
in raigmore as you debate. they wontletme home until i have the gestational diabetes under control or i deliver my baby. even if i get home i will have to go back to raigmoe to have my baby. not good.

ps using handset thingy in hosp. and it doesnt like me

:eek:

I remember that well ,could not do emails properly.Really hope u will be home soon.....best wishes.

brandy
10-Dec-09, 23:34
oh shelly i can tell you what its like! i did it 3 times!! try sitting a bus 3 hours twice a day every month then twice a month, with morning sickness.. a huge belly, and children in tow...
then try finding someone to care for said children when you go into hospital to stay until you have the baby, so parter can be with you..
then try getting back up the road.. best you can with new born baby, no car no transprtation, and a c-section.. and have the hospital tell you its not their problem how you get home.

Dadie
10-Dec-09, 23:35
sent down tue night!
hubby went home tonight as he will have the other 2 to look after over the weekend and mon/tue before they go back to grannies!

he got kyle court to stay in for both nighs he was down but if he stayed any longer he would have to find his own accomodation. which is not great as no one knows how long i will be down.....plus the travel ... plus the cost..... plus the distance/time if anything happens.....

Fly
10-Dec-09, 23:39
Haven't heard, but I would put nothing past that shower in Inverness. God help them if anyone loses their life or their baby due to the distance away. It could have happened to my daughter and granddaughter, due to last minute complications, if there had not been a consultant there. We should not be penalised because we live in the North. We pay the same taxes etc as someone in a big town so deserve the same level of service for an essential service such as maternity.[disgust]http://forum.caithness.org/images/icons/icon8.gif

ShelleyCowie
10-Dec-09, 23:40
oh shelly i can tell you what its like! i did it 3 times!! try sitting a bus 3 hours twice a day every month then twice a month, with morning sickness.. a huge belly, and children in tow...
then try finding someone to care for said children when you go into hospital to stay until you have the baby, so parter can be with you..
then try getting back up the road.. best you can with new born baby, no car no transprtation, and a c-section.. and have the hospital tell you its not their problem how you get home.

Its really not a good situation to be in is it! i had a section too. :( Couldnt imagine coming back up from ness after a section tho on a bus with a newborn! [evil] How awful are they trying to make it for women? Its just disgraceful! It really upsets me that if i were to have another child then i might have to travel that far on a bus.

Saying that i bet more women will try to opt for a home birth if it comes to it! I aint allowed one o those tho...so they say! :roll: But if i do have another one then i will seriously consider tellin em til shove it! My choice.

Does anyone have any email addresses of people we can email to get more info or protest against this happening?

bullielove
10-Dec-09, 23:56
Has anyone heard that the Caithness General maternity ward will be closing or at the minimum, reducing the service?

Are NHS Highland trying to end these vital services slowly without protest by the locals ??

It is bad enough that there are no pediatrician services.[evil]


Where did you hear that from - as the Caithness maternity ward is not closing? To my knowledge its only high risk pregnancies get sent down to Raigmore for obvious safety reasons

Dont believe all the gossip of which there is plenty:roll:

ShelleyCowie
11-Dec-09, 00:02
Where did you hear that from - as the Caithness maternity ward is not closing? To my knowledge its only high risk pregnancies get sent down to Raigmore for obvious safety reasons

Dont believe all the gossip of which there is plenty:roll:

Really? Phew.....had me goin at a wee rant to my OH there! His ear was near melting i think.

Really dont want CGH Maternity Unit to close or downgrade.

But it makes me wonder why women are no longer being enduced there anymore? It started not long after i had my son. I know of quite a few people who had a problem free pregnancy but still got sent to inverness.

Does anyone know?

Fran
11-Dec-09, 03:33
We have been through all this before very recently. the hospital is NOT closing the maternity wing. If any mums are sent to Raigmore it is because they have problems and Raigmore has the equipmet and specialist staff which we dont have.

brandy
11-Dec-09, 09:24
which is very triue fran.. raigmore has a wonderful staff and scbu is a godsend. saying that.. we should have our own. i know we dont have the population up here.. but the distance alone is disturbing. the fact that a child can not even be given an IV in caithness and has to be shipped of to inverness to have that done is ridiculous.
it is not the fault of the hospital staff who work their behinds off to do what they can but the fat cat administrators and beaurocrats who dosh out the money refusing to spend it where it needs and throwing it where it dosent.

cuddlepop
11-Dec-09, 10:32
So sorry to hear you havent been keeping well and have ended up away from home so near christmas.:(

Raigmore is bad eneogh at the best of times but this time of year you must feel a million miles away.
Hope they get this under control and your home soon.

Thankfully you've got that handset and can log on here,bit of home if nothing else.:)

Dynamic Sounds
11-Dec-09, 18:53
I for one do not want the maternity unit to close.

My little one was born in Raigmore last weekend due to the fact that the OH was gonna have to have an induction, and I can not fault the staff down there. But I would much rather have has my bairn in Wick, and have all the facilities here.

BINBOB
11-Dec-09, 21:34
Does anyone know exactly how many babies have been born in wick ,recently???Methinks it is much less than was normal a few months ago!!

shamrock2007
11-Dec-09, 22:55
Have heard that the Maternity Unit has been reduced down to a 6 bed unit & no longer Auxilary night staff. Its terrible what they are doing. Going to have a terrible effect on our Ambulance service aswell. Was in a situation a couple of weeks ago where we needed an ambulance for our 7yr old and there wasn't one available, doctor came to house, ambulance finally came through from Thurso, my daughter needed to go to Raigmore, the doctor let the ambulance go as it was the only one covering Caithness, I was expected to travel alone with my daughter but thankfully my Uncle took us down. We passed the Wick ambulance at tall pines going home & my uncle met it coming back down to Inverness on his way home! Surely with the cost of transfers it would pay to have a full service in Wick!!!!!

Fran
12-Dec-09, 01:19
The maternity unit has NOT been reduced. the number of beds in all wards in all hospitals are being reduced because of new infection control rules. there has to be a certain space between beds, which there isnt now, so where we have 6 bed wards, they will be reduced to 4. this is not cutting down the hospital or the service it provides.
As for the ambulance service. In an emergency a helicopter can be here very quickly. Ambulance cars are often used to take children to raigmore usually with a hospital doctor travelling with them, at any time. An ambulance can be on call in a vast area so cannot make it quickly, both ambulances could be away. But, in an emergency help would be there within 8 minutes and as i said a helicopter could be used to fly an emergency to Raigmore.
Cases are prioritised. I remember "himself" urgently needed a blood transfusion at the time when the blood bank was closed at wick. The Doctor came and said an ambulance would be here shortly. It took 4 hours to come, from thurso with just the driver, and he was transferred to another ambulance at Tain which took him to Raigmore. The wick ambulances were both at an accident and another ambulance was dealing with a heart attack.These are unfortunate unforseen cicumstances which can happen at evenings.He could of course have gone by ambulance car.

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
12-Dec-09, 10:23
We have been through all this before very recently. the hospital is NOT closing the maternity wing. If any mums are sent to Raigmore it is because they have problems and Raigmore has the equipmet and specialist staff which we dont have.

FRan do you work at the hospital ??

Tellyaddict
12-Dec-09, 10:30
I had my little one in Raigmore and I am glad I did as the outcome would have been totally different had I been in Wick. I was a low risk pregnancy but had some complications at 34 weeks and had to transferred to Inverness in pre term labour by Air Ambulance - not a helicopter as you can't go by helicopter when you are in labour and you have to wait until the plane get here from Aberdeen. The ambulance service were fantastic as were all the staff in Raigmore and at the end of the day both me and my son were able to come home healthy and that is all that matters.

BINBOB
12-Dec-09, 11:04
The maternity unit has NOT been reduced. the number of beds in all wards in all hospitals are being reduced because of new infection control rules. there has to be a certain space between beds, which there isnt now, so where we have 6 bed wards, they will be reduced to 4. this is not cutting down the hospital or the service it provides.
As for the ambulance service. In an emergency a helicopter can be here very quickly. Ambulance cars are often used to take children to raigmore usually with a hospital doctor travelling with them, at any time. An ambulance can be on call in a vast area so cannot make it quickly, both ambulances could be away. But, in an emergency help would be there within 8 minutes and as i said a helicopter could be used to fly an emergency to Raigmore.
Cases are prioritised. I remember "himself" urgently needed a blood transfusion at the time when the blood bank was closed at wick. The Doctor came and said an ambulance would be here shortly. It took 4 hours to come, from thurso with just the driver, and he was transferred to another ambulance at Tain which took him to Raigmore. The wick ambulances were both at an accident and another ambulance was dealing with a heart attack.These are unfortunate unforseen cicumstances which can happen at evenings.He could of course have gone by ambulance car.

Surely by saying wards are going from 6 beds in room to 4..........that is a reduction .

Scunner
12-Dec-09, 11:40
The bed numbers have been reduced to make room for the 'birthing pool'.

ShelleyCowie
12-Dec-09, 11:48
When i was in having Athrun, the maternity ward only had 3 beds to a room anyway. :confused It used to be 4. There was definetely plenty of space left for a 4th bed, the maternity ward was really busy when i was in. i had a room to myself for the first day. Then the next day into a ward with 2 other lassies. Home the next day after that because i nagged so much! :Razz

I can understand though if the hospital is worried about infection but i believe if you are going to get ill....then you will get ill. Its a hospital, funnily enough its full of sick people!

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
12-Dec-09, 12:38
Has anyone heard that the Caithness General maternity ward will be closing or at the minimum, reducing the service?

Are NHS Highland trying to end these vital services slowly without protest by the locals ??

It is bad enough that there are no pediatrician services.[evil]



where did you actually "hear" this?

wickscorrie
12-Dec-09, 15:31
heard one of the maty wards in raigmore is shutting over xmas/new year, hope there ain' a rush o bairns due or it won't just be inverness our peedie ones will end up getting shipped to!
and pardon the expression but bullshit on reducing 4 beds in a ward to 3. How is that going to improve infection control?

sill think it is a sneekie underhanded way to reduce the numbers
and see the powers that be are still useless at organising things
why!!
because the mums are still being sent to raigmore for inductions
why!!!
are the staff not capable of doing their work and if so then why!!!!

swap some of the raigmore staff up here and put the wick ones south until they have been trained to do it

mind you, don't think it is the midwives as all three of mine were induced
hmmm!

and also why are the staff terrified to speak up for themselves, it always makes me think of a iron curtain regime, when noone can criticise the way their work is run

we have a whistleblowing policy at our work does the cgh not have the same


as you say Shelley "that's my rant over for 5 secs!"

Fran
13-Dec-09, 04:30
The reduction of beds for new infection control legislation applies to all nhs hospital, not just Caithness, so i can assure you it is not "bullshit" as you commented.

Leanne
13-Dec-09, 10:53
because the mums are still being sent to raigmore for inductions
why!!!
are the staff not capable of doing their work and if so then why!!!!

swap some of the raigmore staff up here and put the wick ones south until they have been trained to do it

It isn't about training. Staff have been trained to do inductions pre the change. It is about patient safety and the fact that not enough inductions were done here to maintain the staffs skills. As professionals in the NHS we have to prove that we are fit to practice - how can someone in the maternity ward do that if they might only each do one induction a month?

Having all the specialist testing and procedures done centrally increases the exposure of the staff in the specialist centres thus allowing them to increase their own skills. This way of working is safer for the patients and is a national policy - not just CGH management being underhand. The safety of the mothers and unborn babies is paramount. I believe the inconvenience for a few days/couple of weeks is worth having a healthy baby at the end of it.

Now lets deal with infection - you (the hypothetical you) are in hospital and there is a person in the next bed to you with a stonking cough (to simplify things) and the beds are only 1m apart (this is classed as the exposure distance with swine flu also). This persons cough expulsions are close enough to reach you and thus you can be infected. Having the beds so close also increases the likelihood that someone with grubby hands touches your bed - possible infecting your operation wound with MRSA. Increasing the distance between the beds by a third reduces the likelihood of exposure to infection.

The NHS has been slammed for poor cleanliness and staff not practicing skills enough to be deemed competent. We do something about it and people use that to moan instead. We really cannot win with some people eh?

BRIE
13-Dec-09, 11:25
I was in the maternity ward last week & saw no sign of it being downgraded or closed. Looked to me like they were having improvements done if anything, sure that there was new flooring going down on the ward & there was plenty of staff on duty:D
of course there are less babies born now than a few months ago, there is always a baby boom sept-oct thanks to the festive season! ;)

Dadie
13-Dec-09, 13:53
Hmmm no comment!

From what I was told on friday when I was discharged from raigmore I was not really happy with Wick!

Next time they pull the sending you down the road line I will be looking for at least a second opinion!:mad:

Leanne
13-Dec-09, 16:49
Hmmm no comment!

From what I was told on friday when I was discharged from raigmore I was not really happy with Wick!

Next time they pull the sending you down the road line I will be looking for at least a second opinion!:mad:

Without clarification that post is meaningless. It is inflammatory without anything to support the claim...

Dadie
13-Dec-09, 17:47
I was told that Wick could have dealt with my problem there and I really didnt need to be in raigmore in the first place!
But without going into details of my problem I cannot give you the info you want.
It just seemed like shoving me down the road out the way, and not dealing with it there.... if the problem was so bad why did it take them in wick 8 days after the test to send me to raigmore???? esp when they had the test results after 2 days and never bothered to tell me???

Leanne
13-Dec-09, 19:19
if the problem was so bad why did it take them in wick 8 days after the test to send me to raigmore???? esp when they had the test results after 2 days and never bothered to tell me???

Maybe someone was misinformed? Maybe policy and procedure hadn't been followed. Did you find out why? Did you make a complaint afterwards that you had been treated in an incorrect manner? (I don't mean for that to sound like the spanish inquisition lol)

Without feedback we cannot make our hospital a better place. And I am using 'our' to include myself as a patient. There's always places where improvements can be made but the hospital needs to know in order for the change to me made.

Dadie
13-Dec-09, 20:24
I only got back late on fri night so the next time I see them some questions will need to be answered!

I did ask why I was not informed of the test results when they came in on Tue when I was in for my appt, and did not get an answer!

The consultant didnt know!

I assumed the results were fine beforehand as I was informed I would get to know if they were not.

LMS
13-Dec-09, 23:13
I only got back late on fri night so the next time I see them some questions will need to be answered!

I did ask why I was not informed of the test results when they came in on Tue when I was in for my appt, and did not get an answer!

The consultant didnt know!

I assumed the results were fine beforehand as I was informed I would get to know if they were not.


Fair point, going to Inverness is really inconvienent and in your case un-necessary, but you are both safe and sound. What would have happened if you weren't, would you be moaning that you weren't put to Inverness?

Fran
14-Dec-09, 01:12
I think if you have a complaint you should contact the hospital manager or the patients council and not display it on here to cause alarm to other patients. there are two sides to every story.

cuddlepop
14-Dec-09, 10:39
To be fair on dadie it really is annoying when you seem to be sent through to Raigmore when there is the least hint of something going wrong.:roll:

I was sent through so often 18 years ago that when I was in labour even though it was decided previously I could stay in Portree I was sent through.:mad:
My daughter was born on loch ness side in a spot that had no radio reception for Inverness in the back of the ambulance.

As it transpired she had been born with a whole in her heart which was spotted 8 weeks later.
Luckily the delivery went well but the outcome could have been worse.

If you are to be sent through then surely better provisions should be made as the whether its absolutely necessary or sufficient medical "back up " goes with you.
I had a wonderfull midwife that was relieved my daughter was an easy birth and I knew what I was doing as it was my 3rd.:)

Westsider3
14-Dec-09, 15:02
This story keeps on coming up and I would say there is no smoke without fire. It is certainly something that should be watched very carefully. I do not know how anyone knows for definite whether it is being downgraded or not but we should all be supporting our local maternity unit. Its closure would affect every family in Caithness. I dread to think of the consequences if it was to be downgraded.

shamrock2007
14-Dec-09, 17:47
Air ambulance transfer is not always quick. I waited over 12 hours for a transfer from Wick to Edinburgh when i went into labour 10wks early!

Karen
14-Dec-09, 18:18
The air ambulance was not available when I was in premature labour, it was attending someone with a broken leg on a mountain, was a long journey by road ambulance and my husband had to follow us with the car as there was no space in the ambulance for him.

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
14-Dec-09, 18:38
I do not know how anyone knows for definite whether it is being downgraded or not but we should all be supporting our local maternity unit.


As per discussion in CGH today at the parentcraft session we have been told that Wick hope to be going back up to full complement of staff in January.

So Westsider you are dead right we should all be supporting the unit and it doesn't look like it's being downgraded - and all these negative aspursions others have cast must be really frustrating and demoralising for the staff there who are doing their best!!!

Leanne
14-Dec-09, 19:24
As per discussion in CGH today at the parentcraft session we have been told that Wick hope to be going back to being able to do inductions by early January.

See those antenatal classes are good for something eh? You looked glowing today when I saw you :) Hope you enjoyed Wicker's World :)

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
14-Dec-09, 19:26
You looked glowing today when I saw you :)

Glowing - possibly the sheer temperature of Room 3 on the Henderson Wing haha!!!

Leanne
14-Dec-09, 19:42
Glowing - possibly the sheer temperature of Room 3 on the Henderson Wing haha!!!

Ha ha yeah the heating is silly! On even in the summer!

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
14-Dec-09, 19:59
Ha ha yeah the heating is silly! On even in the summer!

crikey don't be admitting to that - tax payers money and all haha!

BINBOB
14-Dec-09, 21:12
crikey don't be admitting to that - tax payers money and all haha!

But that is true!!!;)

Leanne
14-Dec-09, 21:16
But that is true!!!;)

You should see how many samples come in from the GPs with clinical details "feels cold". Well we can't have people complaining they feel cold in hospital - there's plenty of other stuff for them to complain about :P

Dadie
14-Dec-09, 21:17
I want CGH to be able/capable/willing to do more in the maternity dept.

I feel the more people are shipped out the worse our services up here will get.

If anything it would be nice for the unit to be upgraded, but, that wishful thinking.

More training for the procedures not carried out so often i.e a day at raigmore to do inductions ever so often to keep the training records up to date would not be so hard would it?

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
14-Dec-09, 21:37
I feel the more people are shipped out the worse our services up here will get.


What Leanne and others are trying to say though is that no one wants that - but safety first - if there aren't the facilities / staff (temporarily) to cope then it's in the best interest of the patient to be in Raigmore.....

But going on what I heard in the hospital today - it looks like as I said earlier they hope to have a full complement of staff early in January so hopefully inductions will be back on track in Wick early early in the New Year and they hope to have another Anaethistist( spelling) in situ soon too..... so it's all looking better!

Leanne
14-Dec-09, 21:41
they hope to have another Anaethistist( spelling) in situ soon too..... so it's all looking better!

Ooo I didn't know there was a new one. That's good new's :) It must be so hard recruiting staff to come up here. I came up from Cheshire - it's a shame there isn't a feeder teaching hospital nearer to make working here more appealing.

ShelleyCowie
14-Dec-09, 21:43
This story keeps on coming up and I would say there is no smoke without fire. It is certainly something that should be watched very carefully. I do not know how anyone knows for definite whether it is being downgraded or not but we should all be supporting our local maternity unit. Its closure would affect every family in Caithness. I dread to think of the consequences if it was to be downgraded.

I think there are alot of people supporting the local maternity unit already. How much more can they do? Cant keep having babies...its not like "bringing in business" :confused :lol:

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
14-Dec-09, 21:58
Ooo I didn't know there was a new one. That's good new's :) It must be so hard recruiting staff to come up here. I came up from Cheshire - it's a shame there isn't a feeder teaching hospital nearer to make working here more appealing.

I think it's not a new permanent person - think a 6 month contract was mentioned....but its a step in right direction!

Westsider3
15-Dec-09, 10:32
I think there are alot of people supporting the local maternity unit already. How much more can they do? Cant keep having babies...its not like "bringing in business" :confused :lol:

I think you have misread my posting. I am 100% behind keeping full services at Wick and would be willing to support it fully. My posting was mainly aimed at the people who have posted telling us that it is not going to be downgraded or closed. I would love to know where they get their information from and how they think they are fully 'in the know' and we are not. I was annoyed in a previous thread about this topic when someone accused many of us of scaremongering. I think it is something that we should all be keeping a close eye on and not ignoring.

I am a mother who had to deliver in Raigmore recently because of Wick being on low risk only. Raigmore was fantastic and I can't complain about one thing but it was an ordeal having to go there and leave my other child. It was also a thought having to travel home with a newborn having had a section. I cannot believe that they would consider downgrading Wick!

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
15-Dec-09, 10:39
My posting was mainly aimed at the people who have posted telling us that it is not going to be downgraded or closed. I would love to know where they get their information from and how they think they are fully 'in the know' and we are not.

If yo uare referring to me - my posts were as a result of querying staff in the Henderson wing AFTER reading this thread....and what they are saying is that the services should be back to normal shortly.....

Obviously no one KNOWS for sure what Management will decide or be forced to do and what decisions maybe made but the Government but I don't think anyone WANTS the services to be downgraded......

Westsider3
15-Dec-09, 11:11
If yo uare referring to me - my posts were as a result of querying staff in the Henderson wing AFTER reading this thread....and what they are saying is that the services should be back to normal shortly.....

Obviously no one KNOWS for sure what Management will decide or be forced to do and what decisions maybe made but the Government but I don't think anyone WANTS the services to be downgraded......

Sorry! It was not aimed at you! I also totally agree that the staff in Wick and in the Community are fantastic but I don't think it is demoralising for them to read this thread, if anything it should be giving them a boost as we are all in support of keeping the unit open! It does annoy me though that some people are being very dismissive of the rumours that it is going to be downgraded.

madmissus
15-Dec-09, 19:32
To reply to your message Dadie, to send all the staff off to Raigmore to update is not the answer, and I know for a fact the majority of Raigmore staff , if not all of them would not come up to Wick to work. There is no easy answer, everybody has their families, quite a few staff have dependent, elderly relatives as well as young families.

Fran
15-Dec-09, 23:24
I want CGH to be able/capable/willing to do more in the maternity dept.

I feel the more people are shipped out the worse our services up here will get.

If anything it would be nice for the unit to be upgraded, but, that wishful thinking.

More training for the procedures not carried out so often i.e a day at raigmore to do inductions ever so often to keep the training records up to date would not be so hard would it?

Why dont you join the Patients Council and fight for the maternity unit and make your opinions known.

ShelleyCowie
15-Dec-09, 23:42
I think you have misread my posting. I am 100% behind keeping full services at Wick and would be willing to support it fully. My posting was mainly aimed at the people who have posted telling us that it is not going to be downgraded or closed. I would love to know where they get their information from and how they think they are fully 'in the know' and we are not. I was annoyed in a previous thread about this topic when someone accused many of us of scaremongering. I think it is something that we should all be keeping a close eye on and not ignoring.

I am a mother who had to deliver in Raigmore recently because of Wick being on low risk only. Raigmore was fantastic and I can't complain about one thing but it was an ordeal having to go there and leave my other child. It was also a thought having to travel home with a newborn having had a section. I cannot believe that they would consider downgrading Wick!

I never misread it...was having a joke. Im all for keeping wick maternity unit open, not just to low risk pregnancies. :confused

Westsider3
16-Dec-09, 12:09
I see by the paper today that Wick is remaining on low risk into the New Year. I wonder when and if they ever will resume normal practice in Wick? What a shame on the highly qualified and dedicated staff who work there that are not getting the opportunities to deliver our babies.

Skerries
16-Dec-09, 18:46
I was at the hospital in Wick for an antenatal appointment the other week and I can't praise the midwives highly enough. Keep up the good work midwives! :)

Fran
17-Dec-09, 02:37
You should see how many samples come in from the GPs with clinical details "feels cold". Well we can't have people complaining they feel cold in hospital - there's plenty of other stuff for them to complain about :P


But...".feeling cold" can be a sign of anemia or thyroid problems.

KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN
17-Dec-09, 10:34
But...".feeling cold" can be a sign of anemia or thyroid problems.

or it can be a sign that they aren't wearing enough clothes for the weatheR?

BINBOB
17-Dec-09, 14:00
quote=KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN;633665]or it can be a sign that they aren't wearing enough clothes for the weatheR?[/quote]
:lol::lol::lol:

Leanne
17-Dec-09, 14:49
I never said it wasn't a valid complaint... Just saying we can't add to it :lol:

BINBOB
17-Dec-09, 15:29
I never said it wasn't a valid complaint... Just saying we can't add to it :lol:

We know....;)

K.B
17-Dec-09, 19:06
i wonder where all these stories come from!?
wouldn't you rather the inconvenience of having to go to inverness to deliver than having to lose patients or babies or in worse cases BOTH??
im sure a little inconvenience is something we can all deal with as we deal with them most of the time and get over it?
at antinaetal classes a few weeks ago ther was 4 ladies on the ward at the same time so they are doing everyhting possible to keep us up here but as the say safety is paramount and thats where inverness helps at times when wick cant.
midwifes are doing an excellent job so.....Keep up the good work and lets keep our fingers crossed that eveything turns out well!!

hunter
19-Dec-09, 21:46
Haven't heard, but I would put nothing past that shower in Inverness. God help them if anyone loses their life or their baby due to the distance away. It could have happened to my daughter and granddaughter, due to last minute complications, if there had not been a consultant there. We should not be penalised because we live in the North. We pay the same taxes etc as someone in a big town so deserve the same level of service for an essential service such as maternity.[disgust]http://forum.caithness.org/images/icons/icon8.gif

It is precisely because of the risk of someone's life being lost in Wick that some mothers are being advised to give birth in Inverness.

The service there is so fragile that any weaknesses, such as loss of staff or questions about the competence of docs, immediately sound alarm bells. That "shower", as you describe them, are putting the safety of the mother and the unborn first. Ultimately, however, it's up to the mother to decide where to give birth - she can take the risk and go into labour in an under-strength unit if she likes. She can choose to give birth at home. Or she can follow the medical advice.

And I'm sorry, if you live in a remote location you cannot expect to have the same response times or intensive care units on your doorstep that people living in, say, the city do. When you choose to live here, it is one of the factors you accept - you are further away from specialist care.

The staffing issue isn't unique to the maternity unit. Caithness has a difficulty attracting a wide range of professional staff across a wide range of services. That's a subject for a different debate.

hunter
19-Dec-09, 22:01
This story keeps on coming up and I would say there is no smoke without fire. It is certainly something that should be watched very carefully. I do not know how anyone knows for definite whether it is being downgraded or not but we should all be supporting our local maternity unit. Its closure would affect every family in Caithness. I dread to think of the consequences if it was to be downgraded.

Where is this rubbish coming from about closure of the maternity unit?

The big issue about the maternity unit is how it measures up against the national clinical standards. It exceeds the standards required for a midwife-led unit because it also has consultant gynies, but it cannot meet the standards required for consultant-led units because it does not have an intensive care unit.

So it is neither one thing nor the other. The risks of a mishap and misunderstanding are pretty clear to me - you start to believe you are in a certain standard of unit when, in fact, you are not.

Why is it like this? It was a fudge born of the uproar that greeted the attempt by clinicians a few years to address the issue.

A wider issue for the area is the falling birth rate. This doesn't only affect the hospital - the whole demographics of the area becoming extremely lop-sided.

We should worry more about whether enough resources will be available for the geriatrics than for births.

Westsider3
20-Dec-09, 15:08
Where is this rubbish coming from about closure of the maternity unit?

The big issue about the maternity unit is how it measures up against the national clinical standards. It exceeds the standards required for a midwife-led unit because it also has consultant gynies, but it cannot meet the standards required for consultant-led units because it does not have an intensive care unit.

So it is neither one thing nor the other. The risks of a mishap and misunderstanding are pretty clear to me - you start to believe you are in a certain standard of unit when, in fact, you are not.

Why is it like this? It was a fudge born of the uproar that greeted the attempt by clinicians a few years to address the issue.

A wider issue for the area is the falling birth rate. This doesn't only affect the hospital - the whole demographics of the area becoming extremely lop-sided.

We should worry more about whether enough resources will be available for the geriatrics than for births.

Maybe you should re-read my posting - I didn't mention anything regarding, "Where is this rubbish coming from about closure of the maternity unit?".

I fully understand the picture of Wick Maternity Unit and I think we should be aiming to improve all our hospital services and not downgrade. Many hospital things can be treated in further away areas easily. However, I do not think we should have to be considering childbirth at such a distance away. And for the record I have experience of delivering in both Wick and Raigmore and I thought both places were excellent, both me and my babies were well cared for. Ideally I would have liked to have had both my babies in Wick but the low risk circumstances dictacted Raigmore for me. I took the decision to go to Raigmore for safety reasons too, I would never compromise my children or me but I do think there was no reason for me to have had to go there. Raigmore staff also said the same thing - Wick are well enough equipped to deal with it.

We should be keeping an eye on this situation because I am sure in the near future things will be different in Wick. There is without doubt something going on.

Leanne
20-Dec-09, 15:57
Raigmore staff also said the same thing - Wick are well enough equipped to deal with it.

There is without doubt something going on.

Raigmore staff do not work at Wick so therefore do not know what Wick are/are not equipped to deal with. The safety of mother and child is paramount - if something were to go wrong the cry would be "they should have been sent to Raigmore".

There isn't anything going on other than a select few scaremongering...

Skerries
20-Dec-09, 18:06
It exceeds the standards required for a midwife-led unit because it also has consultant gynies, but it cannot meet the standards required for consultant-led units because it does not have an intensive care unit.

So it is neither one thing nor the other. The risks of a mishap and misunderstanding are pretty clear to me - you start to believe you are in a certain standard of unit when, in fact, you are not.

Why is it like this? It was a fudge born of the uproar that greeted the attempt by clinicians a few years to address the issue.

We should worry more about whether enough resources will be available for the geriatrics than for births.

It might be a "fudge" to you but I think peoples' desire to have obstetricians nearby is understandable and no reflection of the high opinion we have of the midwives.

hunter
21-Dec-09, 18:43
It might be a "fudge" to you but I think peoples' desire to have obstetricians nearby is understandable and no reflection of the high opinion we have of the midwives.

Completely understandable. The problem occurs when you assess the unit against clinical standards - it is neither one thing nor the other.

The recommended service level in Scotland for a hospital of the Wick type is a midwife-led service. Wick exceeds this, because the powers that be accepted the argument that geography was an exceptional factor.

But I reiterate my earlier point - moving births to Raigmore is based on advice given by doctors, because of the risks inherent at Wick, and taken in the best interests of the patient. I dont believe it is motivated by any conspiracy - to suggest so is a slur on the professional integrity of medics.

The simple fact is that Wick cannot sustain a service that meets the national standards, other than for a midwife-led unit. That is what makes it so vulnerable to the slightest wobble in its management.