A campaign group has hit out at a formal action plan drawn up by health bosses to reintroduce a consultant-led maternity service at Dr Gray’s Hospital.
NHS Grampian was given two weeks to submit plans to the Scottish Government after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman visited the medical facility in Elgin last month.
She imposed the strict deadline after hearing concerns from staff and locals about the recent downgrade which has been proposed for the following year.
Under the new plans, mums-to-be from the region with medium and high risk pregnancies are being transferred to hospitals in Inverness and Aberdeen.
Ms Freeman told the health board to consult with campaign group Keep Mum and worried locals before submitting the action plan.
The deadline passed yesterday but campaigners say their requests had clearly been ignored.
A Keep Mum spokeswoman said: “We first saw a draft of the plan on Tuesday, 14th August. At that time it contained no detail whatsoever of a step-by-step approach to returning the service to a consultant-led service. We said to NHS Grampian that we could not support it. Further, it was not clear whether the criteria listed for stepping up the service was evidence based or based on opinion.
“Representatives of Keep Mum met with NHS Grampian today to see another version of the plan. This plan still contained none of our suggestions. It remains the case that the plan contains no immediate and urgent steps to start the return to a consultant-led obstetric and paediatric service.
“We were also concerned to read the proposal that only permanent members of staff should provide the service when it is well known that locum staff can provide a safe service and do so throughout Grampian and indeed the whole of the NHS throughout Scotland.
“This plan does not have our support. We have today written to the Cabinet Secretary and are waiting for her response to our concerns.”
Yesterday it emerged that no details of the action plan will be released to the public until after the health secretary has read the document.
Last night Conservative MP Douglas Ross was concerned that the action plan may not have been completed and called on the Scottish Government to act quickly and help resolve the situation.
He said: “More meetings and discussions don’t stop pregnant mums and their families worrying about the implications of travelling to Aberdeen to give birth. We also need to know why suggestions from Keep Mum and others seem to have been kept out of this report.
“Time is not on our side. Every day that passes more mums are forced to travel away from Moray to give birth, we need immediate solutions to this crisis. That is what many people expected when the Health Secretary asked for this report, but they have been let down.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “NHS Grampian have submitted their draft plan of how they intend to restore a full obstetric service to Dr Gray’s hospital.
“The Scottish Government will consider the plan and discuss with NHS Grampian and the plan, when finalised, will be made publicly available.”