Elizabeth Crammond Seeks Maternity Care Changes After Miscarriage Delay
Elizabeth Crammond waited nine days for NHS medics to confirm her miscarriage after reporting pain and bleeding. At Holyrood, she presented a petition with 923…
Elizabeth Crammond waited nine days for NHS medics to assess her miscarriage after reporting pain and bleeding in Scotland, and is now seeking changes to maternity care through a petition presented at Holyrood. The case has raised questions about delays in early pregnancy services and how women’s concerns are handled.
Crammond, who lives in Kinross, suffered her third miscarriage in three years in March. She said she tried to contact the early pregnancy unit in Kirkcaldy, Fife, 60 times but was not seen; she paid for private scans before NHS staff confirmed the miscarriage.
She described the experience as a struggle to get help. “I was fighting a system that wasn't working for me at all,” Crammond told BBC Scotland News.
Her petition had received 923 signatures when she presented it to Holyrood’s public petitions committee. It asks ministers to require GPs to provide transitional care for gynaecology, fertility and maternity services, and to introduce a “reactive auditing process” aimed at reducing delays and improving safety.
What changes does the petition seek?
The petition focuses on continuity of care and the review of delays. Crammond said she had to “fight constantly with the GPs, midwives, early pregnancy units”.
“I was high risk,” she said. “And nobody would believe me until it was too late.” She also said she phoned for help repeatedly and was told to leave hospital while bleeding extensively.
“I was just left to bleed, suffering pain, and almost suffering in silence, in some respect,” she said.
The committee, which includes MSPs from different parties, can recommend government action or seek a debate in the chamber. Its consideration gives the petition a route to put the requests before parliament, though it does not itself change care arrangements.
The Scottish government said in September it did not consider a specific duty for GPs necessary, arguing they already have a responsibility to care for patients in need, including those with maternity-related concerns. It pointed to a delivery framework for miscarriage care launched last year, intended to standardise miscarriage and early pregnancy services across Scotland.
Public Health Minister Maree Todd expressed sympathy for Crammond and her family in parliament on Thursday. “It is vital that women and their families receive the compassionate care they need,” Todd said, adding that she and the health secretary had offered to meet Crammond to hear more about her experience.
The petition comes amid wider scrutiny of maternity care. At First Minister’s Questions in September, Labour’s Jackie Baillie raised Crammond’s case alongside that of Katie Lyon, who also experienced a miscarriage after failures in NHS care.
MSPs heard that Lyon went to A&E on Christmas Eve last year after noticing spotting and was told the maternity service was full. Doctors later could not find a heartbeat, but the miscarriage was not confirmed until a week later.
First Minister John Swinney said he was “terribly sorry” when Crammond’s case was raised in parliament. He said the care described in the cases brought forward by Baillie had not met the standard people should receive and said he would explore both cases.
Todd said the health secretary and she had offered to meet Crammond; her petition had 923 signatures.
