Sutherland hit by midwife shortage
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Sutherland’s senior health manager has said the situation regarding maternity services in the county is causing her “anxiety”.
Kate Kenmure, who manages NHS and adult social services in the north, revealed there is currently only one midwife based in Sutherland.
Ms Kenmure voiced her concern during a meeting of Assynt Community Council last month.
“We have a real problem with maternity services at the moment,” she told chairman Liam Taylor and other community councillors.
“We have only got one midwife for the whole of Sutherland and that is causing me anxiety. How can we go about recruiting more midwives and attract them to the area?”
It has been over a year since Sutherland has had a full midwifery team which should comprise 2.7 whole time equivalent midwives plus a full-time midwifery team leader and a part time health care support worker (HCSW).
The midwife staffing crisis has arisen as a result of staff either retiring or moving to other jobs. The one remaining Sutherland midwife works out of Golspie.
Ms Kenmure, a trained nurse and midwife, said there was a national shortage of midwives and that the decision made in the 1990s to separate the two professions had not been to the benefit of remote and rural areas such as Sutherland.
“When I trained as a midwife in 1990, I was already a registered nurse and that was the way they did it then,” she said. “But about five years after that, the two professions were completely separated. Midwives these days do not have nursing training."
A spokesman for NHS Highland said: “Maternity care continues to be provided in Sutherland via midwives and health care support workers.
“We currently have one midwife working out of Golspie, which has always been the base, covering all of the Sutherland area. They are not working alone and have support from colleagues in neighbouring counties.
"They are also supported by the team at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, with advice and triage for any unscheduled or emergency care.
“Recruiting to midwifery is a challenge and this is not just unique to Highland but is felt at a national level. We continue to try and recruit to our vacancies and have recently launched our Aim Highland recruitment campaign which showcases the benefits of living and working in Highland.
“We are also supporting a midwifery post-graduate course at Napier University which encourages registered nurses to make a career change to midwifery. We will pay for them to study and they are guaranteed a job once they graduate.”
We will continue to advertise these roles and the benefits of working within our team.
