Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Grampian

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.

Table 1: Number of sites where women experiencing miscarriage in Scotland may be seen
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 sites, that took part in this scoping exercise, said were available at each site within the 14 Health Board areas.

Table 2: Services for miscarriage care in Scotland
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 Grampian

In NHS Grampian six sites were identified that could come into contact with women experiencing miscarriage, these are:

  • Aberdeen Maternity Hospital
  • Dr Gray’s Hospital
  • Fraserburgh Hospital
  • Peterhead Community Hospital
  • Jubilee Hospital
  • Inverurie Health & Care Hub

NHS Grampian reported that there are two Early Pregnancy Units (EPUs) at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and Dr. Gray’s Hospital with the main site being Aberdeen Maternity Hospital. Where most women present for the first time when experiencing a miscarriage differs depending on the site. If a woman presents at Peterhead Community Hospital, Inverurie Health & Care Hub, Fraserburgh Hospital or Jubilee Hospital, they would be directed to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital. At Dr. Gray’s Hospital women experiencing miscarriage may present at the EPU, maternity ward or the A&E department.

The services provided at the six sites are detailed in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Services for miscarriage care in NHS Grampian
Maternity Services Early Pregnancy Unit Maternity Unit Community Maternity Unit Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department Accident & Emergency Department Recurrent miscarriage clinic Infertility services Other
Aberdeen Maternity Hospital Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Dr. Gray’s Hospital Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No
Fraserburgh Hospital No No No No Yes No No No
Peterhead Community Hospital No No Yes No No No No No
Jubilee Hospital No No No No Yes No No No
Inverurie Health & Care Hub No No Yes No No No No No

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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