A public meeting is being held over the “disappointing and disgusting” decision to keep a maternity unit in the west of Dumfries and Galloway closed.
The region’s Integration Joint Board recently decided not to re-open the Clenoch Centre in Stranraer’s Galloway Community Hospital, which has been closed since 2018 due to staff shortage.
The move sparked fury from campaigners, especially as the preferred option of an independent review was to supplement the existing model of a community hub for low-risk home births with on-call birthing for low risk births at the hospital.
Galloway Community Hospital Action Group is now urging as many people as possible to attend a public meeting in Stranraer Library at 10am on Saturday.
Action group member and retired GP, Angela Armstrong, said: “We have invited all the members of the IJB to attend the public meeting to explain why they did not accept the preferred option of the review body.
“This was a review body commissioned by the IJB and made up of eminent professionals in the maternity field.
“The IJB must be held to account hence we have asked them to attend the public meeting.
“While we all must be concerned about this decision to keep the maternity unit closed, we are keen to see as many young women attend the public meeting as possible.
“We are concerned that should the maternity unit remain closed, mothers and babies who have to travel the treacherous A75 in labour will be put at risk. We dread harm coming to a mother and baby as a result.
“We have heard of too many mothers who have not reached Dumfries and given birth at the side of the road.”
The independent review was followed by a consultation, with members of the public agreeing with the findings of the experts. However, health and social care staff preferred the existing arrangements, saying home births were on offer and it would prevent a “favoured service” being offered in the west of the region.
The IJB agreed to keep the status quo, with chairman and Dee and Glenkens Councillor Andy McFarlane pointing out even the enhanced option would not have resulted in the permanent return of midwives to the hospital.
He added: “This has been a challenging decision on what is a very personal and emotional subject, where there is great strength of feeling, and where we as a board recognise a commitment to patient-centred care.”
Following the decision, Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson called on Health Secretary Neil Gray to investigate the move.
Hospital action group member and Stranraer and the Rhins Councillor, Willie Scobie, said: “We have invited our MSPs and MP to the public meeting because we think this disappointing and disgusting decision must be challenged.
“We are prepared to take our case to the Scottish Parliament to highlight the inequity and inequality the maternity service has in a rural remote area of Scotland and want the mandate from the public meeting to do so.”