Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Ayrshire and Arran
This report details the findings of a scoping exercise to better understand miscarriage care in Scotland within this Health Board. The individual Health Board reports and the national report seek to aid policy makers and Health Boards in making decisions about improvements to Miscarriage Care
Findings
Miscarriage care services in Scotland
In Scotland women experiencing miscarriage present at many different locations. This includes: GP practices, Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments, Maternity Units, Community Maternity units (CMU)[5], Early Pregnancy Units (EPU), and midwifery services more generally. Women can call in advance or present in person for the first time at this range of settings.
Within the 14 Health Board areas in Scotland, numerous secondary care sites that could provide miscarriage care in Scotland were identified. These were checked by the lead professional for miscarriage care in each Health Board to ensure they were secondary care sites that may be the first point of contact for women experiencing miscarriage. This resulted in 44 sites being identified. The sites are listed in Annex A. Table 1 shows the number of sites identified for each Health Board.
| Health Board | Number of sites |
|---|---|
| NHS Ayrshire and Arran | 3 |
| NHS Borders | 1 |
| NHS Dumfries and Galloway | 2 |
| NHS Fife | 1 |
| NHS Forth Valley | 1 |
| NHS Grampian | 6 |
| NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 5 |
| NHS Highland | 12 |
| NHS Lanarkshire | 3 |
| NHS Lothian | 2 |
| NHS Orkney | 1 |
| NHS Shetland | 1 |
| NHS Tayside | 3 |
| NHS Western Isles | 3 |
| Total | 44 |
Table 2 below lists the secondary care services that the 44, that took part in this scoping exercise, said were available at each site within the 14 Health Board areas.
| Services | Early Pregnancy Unit | Maternity Unit | Community Maternity Unit | Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department | Accident & Emergency Department | Recurrent miscarriage services | Infertility services |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total All Sites | 17 | 19 | 21 | 21 | 37 | 13 | 14 |
| All Health Boards | 10 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 12 |
| NHS Ayrshire and Arran | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Borders | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Dumfries and Galloway | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| NHS Fife | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Forth Valley | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| NHS Grampian | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| NHS Highland | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| NHS Lanarkshire | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Lothian | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| NHS Orkney | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Shetland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| NHS Tayside | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NHS Western Isles | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Services in NHS Ayrshire and Arran
In NHS Ayrshire and Arran three secondary care sites were identified that could come into contact with women experiencing miscarriage. These are:
- University Hospital Crosshouse, including Ayrshire Maternity Unit
- University Hospital Ayr
- Arran War Memorial Hospital
In NHS Ayrshire and Arran where women experiencing miscarriage present for the first time differed depending on the site. These include: Early Pregnancy Unit[6] (EPU) (University Hospital Crosshouse), Community Maternity Unit (Arran War Memorial Hospital) or Accident and Emergency (University Hospital Ayr). However, all sites noted that women would be transferred to the Ayrshire Maternity Unit at University Hospital Crosshouse as this was the main location that women experiencing miscarriage would be seen and treatment discussed. The services provided at the three sites are detailed in Table 3 below.
| Services | Early Pregnancy Unit | Maternity Unit | Community Maternity Unit | Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department | Accident & Emergency Department | Recurrent miscarriage services | Infertility Services | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University Hospital Crosshouse, including Ayrshire Maternity Unit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Maternity ward, gynaecology ward (ectopics), labour ward (unstable patients) |
| University Hospital Ayr | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | None |
| Arran War Memorial Hospital | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | None |
Contact
Email: socialresearch@gov.scot
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