Far North campaigners to host free online event tackling reproductive and maternity healthcare provision
Healthcare campaigners across the Far North are preparing to make their voices heard on the “human right to accessible healthcare” at an online event via Teams tomorrow evening.
“Healthcare is a Human Right”, a 90-minute online event organised by three campaign groups — North Highland Women’s Wellbeing Hub (NHWWH), Making Rights Real and the Scottish Women’s Convention — hopes to put the the case for fair maternity healthcare in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross in the spotlight.
Designed to provide a platform for local campaigners to speak up about women’s healthcare provision, the event’s organisers say they feel as though women “do not matter” in the north Highlands.
“Women don't feel safe anymore,” a spokesperson for the groups said.
“It's barbaric. We don't matter up here. That's what it feels like.”
Women across the Far North have been raising significant concerns about a lack of access to safe and accessible reproductive and maternity healthcare since the downgrading of provision at Wick Hospital in 2016.
These events follow the publication of a SHRC report on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands in November last year, which found that more than 14,000 patients per year now have to travel to Inverness for “routine, emergent, and acute cases, with no risk assessments for patient safety.”
The report stated that the current situation requires women in labour to travel up to four hours to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, often relying on public transport if private transport is unavailable.
For those in most areas of Sutherland, no public transport is available.
Throughout the evening, attendees will hear from local campaigners about their fight for accessible healthcare, while also allowing time for questions and discussion.
The free event, which takes place via Microsoft Teams between 6pm and 7.30pm on Thursday, February 27, has been opened to all who are concerned about healthcare provision.
Tickets for Healthcare is a Human Right are available via Eventbrite at eventbrite.com/e/healthcare-is-a-human-right-tickets-1152077036429.