NHS24 call centre to advise pregnant women in labour PREGNANT women will phone NHS24 when they go into labour instead of ringing their local hospital under controversial plans to overhaul Scotland's maternity services. Women suffering a pregnancy-related emergency would be dealt with by midwives at a telephone call centre rather than local staff if the scheme goes ahead. The plans have been proposed by experts in an attempt to streamline the way women are treated when they are giving birth. All pregnant women in Scotland will be told to ring NHS24, not their local hospital, in the case of a medical problem or labour starting. A team of call centre midwives would then advise the woman what to do. But the move has been met with widespread alarm from critics who claim it could cause delays in getting women to hospital. The scheme has been proposed by a group of senior midwives and NHS24 staff. Currently, women in labour or those suffering a complication phone their local hospital where a midwife or doctor gives them advice on whether they should come in. But hospitals have different systems of record-keeping, which experts want to improve and streamline to ensure women are treated the same way no matter where they live. Gillian Smith, director of the Royal College of Midwives in Scotland, said: "This would be a call number for anyone who has problems such as bleeding, or has contractions. One option is NHS24 would run it and they would employ midwives. For women in labour, the advice shouldn't be any different. But the biggest element of the consultation will be whether the service gets handed over to NHS24 so they can employ midwives and whether health boards and women feel confident handing over that service," she said. If a woman is in Fraserburgh and her call is picked up in the NHS24 call centre in South Queensferry, how do they know how long it will take that woman to get to Aberdeen? It might be a concern, whether people know the geography and what is happening in the locality. We would certainly be asking questions about that. The phoneline number has not been finalised but is expected to be the same as the current NHS24 number. The proposals are set out in a report to the NHS24 board by its nurse director Eunice Muir. A Maternity Telehealth Triage (assessment) options paper has now been written and is expected to go out for public consultation. But Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie, said: "Midwives spend quite a bit of time developing a personal relationship with their patients and I know pregnant women prefer to contact their local midwifery service and have a direct contact, than a central and impersonal relationship. We need to ensure that bespoke services are delivered as locally as possible. Maybe NHS24 should take a second look at this and think again. Cynthia Clarkson, Scottish maternity service coordinator for the National Childbirth Trust, said: "This proposal needs careful consideration to determine whether a central system covering the whole of Scotland is really the best way forward or whether triage is better done locally by individual NHS Boards who have the best knowledge of their local area. We need to ensure a watertight system which provides an efficient service for women and their families in every corner of the country. A Scottish Government spokesman said: "NHS24 is working with relevant stakeholders to explore a range of possibilities for supporting maternity telehealth but nothing has been agreed or decided as yet."