Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Costs to be reviewed ahead of return of maternity services to Moray hospital

Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.
Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.

Health campaigners have warned NHS Grampian that any delays to improvements in maternity and children’s services due to costs will result in fresh protests.

Hundreds of people marched through the centre of Elgin last July after Dr Gray’s Hospital was downgraded due to recruitment challenges.

Now the health board has revealed that implementing measures to fully restore services will cost ÂŁ2million – with a further ÂŁ1.7million required for the emergency department and anaesthetics in the Elgin unit to support them.

At a board meeting today, members will be asked to back the plans to restore children’s services.

However, officers are recommending a further update in August on the risks surrounding the maternity service before further progress is made amid warnings that costs will need to be reviewed.

Campaign group Keep Mum has stressed that anything other than “full steam ahead” for restoring the hospital to full health at today’s talks will be a disappointment.

A spokeswoman said: “Next month it will be a year since the maternity service was downgraded.

“Any delay by NHS Grampian to go back on the plan on grounds of finance or anything else will be met with outrage and protest in Moray.

“We expect NHS Grampian to come out of their board meeting and tell the people of Moray that it’s full steam ahead for the restoration of the services we are currently deprived of.”


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


Health bosses have estimated that staff should be recruited to bring back services in April next year but have warned there are no guarantees that posts will be filled.

Long-term plans for Dr Gray’s, which have been approved by the Scottish Government, include the return of short stays of up to 24 hours for children while the number of consultants in the maternity unit will be expanded from four to six.

Meanwhile, a new tier of staff working across multiple departments is expected to reduce the seasonal reliance on trainee doctors, which sparked the current downgrade.

Fresh recruitment efforts have been launched locally by the NHS to target the spouses of military personnel in the region ahead of an expected surge of posts arriving at RAF Lossiemouth.

In a report, Pam Gowans, NHS Grampian’s strategic lead for Dr Gray’s, has warned that a failure to recruit could make the current staffing situation even worse.

She said: “Workforce supply and recruitment difficulties have been a long standing issue at Dr Gray’s Hospital.

“Supply issues remain difficult and the success of the current model depends on attracting new staff to choose to come to work in a new model which is yet to start.

“Furthermore a failure to recruit may lead to more loss of staff in the face of workload pressure on a small workforce.”