A Caithness campaigner has issued a detailed response after comments published earlier this week criticised the role and impact of local maternity campaigners at Caithness General Hospital.
Elizabeth Jones, Chair of the Caithness and Sutherland Respite Campaign and a mother of four from Thurso, contacted The Highland Times following an article setting out the views of former council candidate Peter Newman on the Caithness Health Action Team and the wider maternity debate.
Ms Jones said she was “absolutely flummoxed” by the article and strongly rejected suggestions that campaigners had damaged the hospital’s reputation or driven women away from local maternity services.
She said:
“I highly respect CHAT for the work they have been doing for years regarding the Caithness maternity plight, and I also cannot sufficiently thank Ron Gunn and Iain Gregory for their continued support of my own public campaign.”
Responding to comments questioning the legitimacy of male voices in the debate, she said:
“For Peter Newman to say that Ron Gunn shouldn’t be campaigning because he is a man who will never birth a baby is the most bizarre and baseless argument I have ever come across.
“If we are going to strictly adhere to ‘no uterus, no comment’, then we must ask why Peter, who is also a man, gets to pass comment on this topic.”
Ms Jones also challenged claims that the campaign group was dominated by men, stating that women made up the majority of those involved and supporting the campaign.
“Maria Aitken is the Secretary of CHAT, and the group attracts much public support from local female figures, while the group members themselves are mainly women who are also mothers and grandmothers.”
Drawing on her own experiences, Ms Jones described giving birth to her first two children in Wick in 2009 and 2011, including an emergency caesarean section carried out at Caithness General Hospital during severe winter weather.
“I am not sure that both of us would have survived had I been told that my emergency C section needed to take place 103 miles away via extremely snowy roads.”
She contrasted that with later births in 2016 and 2021, when she travelled to Raigmore Hospital for planned caesarean sections, describing long journeys, isolation, and being separated from her other children.
“I was packed off to Raigmore and I had no choice, travelling alone, undergoing surgery alone, and missing my family throughout my stay.”
Ms Jones rejected suggestions that campaigners had frightened women into travelling to Inverness, saying:
“This is wildly inaccurate and deeply insulting to all the mothers who have spoken out publicly over the last decade.”
She also disputed claims that CHAT had used alarmist rhetoric, arguing that highlighting the risks of long journeys in winter conditions was both reasonable and necessary.
“Staying safe and cosy in a room on the maternity ward at Caithness General Hospital far outweighs travelling more than 100 miles in the snow in a stranger’s 4×4 vehicle.”
Ms Jones dismissed anecdotal claims about recruitment decisions and expressed scepticism about long promised reviews, saying local women’s lived experiences should carry more weight.
She concluded:
“Perhaps Peter Newman would be better off listening to the Caithness women on the ground who have first hand experience of giving birth.”
