MARTEL MAXWELL: How dare they strip Dundee of baby intensive care expertise.

Why would Scotland’s fourth-largest city be denied the status and financing required for an intensive care unit?

Taxes, more taxes, cost cuts, and closures. We’re used to it, numb to the relentless beat of black holes. We wince at inflation in supermarket aisles and moan at reports about historic monument closures.

Then a stupid, illogical story comes, knocking the wind out of our sails. This week, Ninewells Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) was downgraded. It is Tayside’s only facility for caring for the most fragile newborns.

Most vulnerable babies to be treated in Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Glasgow

Many parents gave categorical testimonials of how the unit saved their babies’ lives.

However, intentions are to downgrade it to an LNU (Local Neonatal Unit). This means that babies under 27 weeks, weighing less than 800 grammes, or requiring complicated life support will have to be treated in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, or Glasgow.

This raises the question of why Scotland’s fourth-largest city would lose the status and funds required for an intensive care unit.

Is it not necessary? Doesn’t it save lives? We all know the answer. Does the government not? Lauren Webster’s daughter, Isabella, was born hypoxic (without oxygen) and bleeding.

Lauren informed me: “The team from the unit were on standby outside the delivery room and immediately whisked her to the high dependency unit.”

I’ll return to the word ‘whisked’ shortly. She, like many others, believes the neonatal unit at Ninewells saved her baby’s life.

It will be downgraded by the end of 2026, as will Kirkcaldy’s facility at Victoria Hospital, which is the only one of its sort in Fife. The downgraded units might offer specialised and high dependency care, but not the entire spectrum of medical newborn services.

However, some newborns will be in severe need of this higher level of care and may have to travel, potentially separating from their moms at a time when the baby needs her the most.

Many moms in need of care, who have undergone surgery and are unable to travel, would face the agony of seeing their sick kid go. And how can a Dundee parent deal with wanting to be with their child at all times but having to do so in a different city?

If a baby needs to be ‘whisked’, as Lauren put it, there’s a big difference between being ‘whisked’ along a corridor and being moved by ScotSTAR to another city.

I had my three children in Ninewells – how dare Tayside be drained of NICU expertise

My need for maternity care is passed, but I had my three children in Ninewells, and everything was perfect.

I began in the Midwifery Unit (I had reservations because I knew I’d need some assistance getting my baby out – all I had to do was look at my husband’s large trainers next to my own child-size pair) and was eventually whisked upstairs for interventions, drugs, and an emergency c-section.

Whisked. I needed to be whisked for the operation. Without being whisked away, I don’t want to think about the outcome for myself or my firstborn.

I recall a nurse telling me that the intensive care unit for babies was just down the corridor and that it was an outstanding facility. She had a tear in her eye.

I recall praying for the infants in there, thanking God my kid was okay, and being grateful that we had this facility and its wonderful care for our babies.

Downgrading of Ninewells NICU ‘cannot be allowed to happen’

What would happen to your tremendous expertise? How dare they be emptied into the central belt, endangering life in Tayside.

What are we paying taxes for if not an NHS that cares for individuals in desperate need and newborns who can be ‘whisked’ – and rescued in the process? Again, why the proposal? It does not fit any criteria that I can discern, other than cost-cutting.

That cost will be significantly more than any budget savings. It could cost newborns their lives. This cannot be allowed to happen. Dundee and Tayside must unite.

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