Pregnant woman claims there is 'no support' from NHS Highland for home births
A PREGNANT woman who recently recovered from coronavirus claims she is being forced to go through an unassisted birth at home because NHS Highland lacks the resources to send out midwives.
Victoria Gianopoulos-Johnson, from Nairn, said the health board’s position does not add up because going to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to give birth would put a greater strain on clinical resources than if she were at home.
She was diagnosed with Covid-19 when she was 33 weeks pregnant, though she has never been tested for the virus.
She is asthmatic and suffered painful coughing fits that were so prolonged she did not have enough air in her lungs to use her inhaler.
The lack of testing and a previous unsatisfactory experience giving birth in a different health board area has shaken her confidence in NHS Highland.
She said she has been left angered and frustrated by a response from the health board that agrees with her position that it would be safer for her to give birth at home.
She said: “They told me that keeping women at home is the ‘best option’ concerning the current coronavirus position, but that they do not have enough midwives to sustain a safe service.
“But I feel it is not safe for me or my baby in hospital.
“I chose to have a home birth because of past experiences that were really traumatic in hospital, but I have been told there aren’t enough resources now due to Covid-19. It is common sense not to bring your baby into the world in a place that is in the middle of a pandemic – you can catch an infection in hospital easy enough at the best of times without doing so in these circumstances.
“It is my choice where I give birth and this is not a small issue.
“How we treat birthing mothers is indicative of our priorities as a society, the way we value them and how we treat them during the most sacred right of passage tells us everything we need to know about that society.
“This is not a luxury – I am not a spoiled child who has not got what they wanted – what they are doing is attempting to deny my human rights to give birth how and where I deem most appropriate and safe to do so for me and my baby.”
A spokesman for NHS Highland said it cannot comment on individual cases, adding: “Unfortunately, due to the depletion of the midwifery workforce due to Covid-19 we are having to prioritise maternity staffing in the main maternity unit where the majority of women will be giving birth.
“This is to ensure we can maintain safe standards of care to mother and baby.
“For patients that are symptomatic and not requiring admission, then any individual with a new continuous cough and/or temperature should self-isolate but testing would not be recommended. However, patients requiring hospital admission and meeting the clinical criteria would be tested.”
