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Publication - Research and analysis

Miscarriage Care and Facilities in Scotland: Scoping Report NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

Published
29 November 2023
From
Director-General Education and Justice
Directorate
Children and Families Directorate
ISBN
9781835215951

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

View supporting documents Supporting documents

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 Greater Glasgow and Clyde

In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde five secondary care sites were identified that could come into contact with women experiencing miscarriage. These are:

  • Royal Alexandra Hospital
  • Inverclyde Royal Hospital
  • Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
  • Vale of Leven District General Hospital
  • Princess Royal Maternity Hospital

In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, most women present for the first time at the Early Pregnancy Unit at their closest/local hospital when experiencing a miscarriage; all five sites in Greater Glasgow and Clyde have an Early Pregnancy Unit. When unable to present at the Early Pregnancy Unit, where women present for the first time differs depending on the site. These include; Out of Hours GP, Maternity Triage, Community Maternity Units or Accident and Emergency. The services provided at the five sites which may have contact with a woman experiencing a miscarriage are detailed in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Services for miscarriage care in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
Services Early Pregnancy Unit Maternity Unit Community Maternity Unit Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department Accident & Emergency Department Recurrent Miscarriage Clinic Infertility Services Other
Royal Alexandra Hospital Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No
Inverclyde Royal Hospital Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Don't know
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Don't know
Vale of Leven District General Hospital Yes No Yes No No No No No
Princess Royal Maternity Hospital Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Contact

Email: socialresearch@gov.scot

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