AN EXPECTANT Okehampton mother has criticised what she says are the inadequate provision of services in the town?s new community hospital.
Debbie Hazell, of Okehampton, who is almost seven months pregnant, says she has to travel to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital at Heavitree regularly for scans to monitor her pregnancy despite the fact there is scanning equipment and trained midwives at the new hospital.
Mrs Hazell, who is expecting her third child, says her Exeter-based consultant told her he was willing to come to Okehampton for check-ups on a Friday, but while the new hospital had a scanner, there was not enough staff manpower to make full use of it.
A number of members of staff at the hospital are trained to use the equipment. But Mid Devon Primary Care Trust which administers the hospital, does not have enough staff in place to keep the scanner operational throughout the working week.
Mrs Hazell said she would have to go to Exeter for check-up scans perhaps as often as every fortnight, and with two young children she was reliant on help with transport to and from these appointments.
She said: ?Why should I have to go all the way to Exeter? It is meant to be a community hospital, paid for by the community.
?It?s not the midwives? fault ? they have been brilliant. I feel it is about the PCT and politics.?
Mrs Hazell said expecting a child was a stressful time as it was, without extra worries about medical provision.
?It is something all of us mothers would feel better about ? if we knew the equipment that was there could be used in an emergency, people would not have to worry so much,? she said.
Mrs Hazell gave birth to her son Luke, now two, in Exeter but said with the opening of the new hospital last year, she had hoped she would be able to have her pregnancy monitored in Okehampton.
She said the new hospital had good maternity facilities, but she had spoken to other mothers who had to go to Exeter to have their babies due to staffing levels at the community hospital.
Val Mansfield, locality manager at the hospital, said: ?We are very happy to arrange for a specialist consultant to see a mum at Okehampton Hospital, in individual cases where a consultant and mum have requested this.
?However, in response to a recent request from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, we are also looking at establishing a monthly out-patient clinic, run by a consultant obstetrician or gynaecologist. Discussions on this are currently ongoing, and we are hopeful it will be achieved soon.
?The monthly clinic would not stop all patients from travelling to Exeter, but would be a big step in providing more local services.?
She added: ?Any change in the scanning service at Okehampton would have implications on both staff based at the RD&E and on the workload of midwives in Okehampton.
?Even if a wider routine scanning service was established in Okehampton, women with complicated pregnancies may still need to be monitored at the RD&E.?