PRESS RELEASE
February 8th, 2010
Baby unit fears
Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil has called on Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon to commit to the Rankin Maternity Unit.
The MSP has discovered that significant numbers of newly-qualified midwives are being forced to seek jobs down south and abroad because of a shortage of positions.
In particular, Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board has shown a reluctance to offer starts to new midwives and relying on support workers to fill gaps.
He fears this is a sign that the health board are intent on pursuing an agenda of centralisation and has written to the Health Secretary demanding an assurance that the maternity unit is not under threat.
The MSP said: “We fought hard as a community to retain midwife services in Inverclyde and will not allow these to taken away by stealth.
“We know that midwives are having desperate problems gaining jobs in Scotland and are having to move down south to find work.
“With a job guarantee scheme on offer, Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board are failing to take advantage of central funding for new midwives and instead relying on support workers to fill gaps.
“I do not want to see a situation where our midwife numbers are allowed to fall so low that centralisation is mooted as the only option.
“Expectant mothers need to access quality and choice locally and I want the Health Secretary to give people the assurance that this will continue to be on offer in Inverclyde.”
The MSP has been contacted by a constituent who is one of 15 newly qualified midwives who graduated from a class of 18 in October who has been unable to find a job in Scotland.
Mr McNeil fears that a combination of training programmes being pared back, skills lost down south and projected retirement figures could eventually leave Scotland with a shortage of midwives.
He has written to the Health Secretary asking what is being done to tackle this long-term problem so efforts to promote facilities like the Rankin are not undermined by future staff shortages.
He said: “With the recent problems in teaching, we know what can happen if a strategic approach to workforce planning isn’t taken and I do not want our maternity services to suffer as a result.”
ENDS