Guernsey Press

‘Unreliable’ travel makes life difficult for Alderney mums

AN ALDERNEY MOTHER has highlighted the stress pregnant women from her island undergo before giving birth because of transport ‘unreliability’.

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Lucie Watson and baby Toby. She has told of the difficulties facing pregnant women in Alderney who are advised to live in Guernsey when it gets close to their due date because there are no midwives or obstetricians in Alderney. (Picture by Emma Pinch, 22227196)

Lucie Watson was advised to live in Guernsey for two weeks before her due date and was put up in a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of St Peter Port.

She had no washing or self-catering facilities and was forced to take a bus into Town for meals, leaving her two-year-old son in the care of her partner, who had to carry on working.

There are no resident midwives or obstetricians in Alderney and so expectant mothers are strongly advised to stay in Guernsey for a period before their due date.

Guidance sent to pregnant women from Health & Social Care states: ‘The safest way for you to have your baby is to be in Guernsey before you go into labour as you know that the transport links are unreliable and there have been many occasions this year when the flight to Guernsey would not have been available.’

Accommodation is at the mother’s ‘personal preference’, the advice goes on to say, stating that they can arrange their own, stay with friends or family or in hospital accommodation.

However, Ms Watson was told the self-catering accommodation in John Henry Court in the grounds of the PEH was full.

Accommodation found for her by the States of Guernsey was a two-star B&B about a mile-and-a-half from Castle Cornet.

She was expected to stay there for a fortnight while her fiance continued to work and look after their older child.

‘It was a perfectly fine place for someone to stay on holiday. But at 38 weeks pregnant I just wanted somewhere I could do my washing, get some shopping and stay in, which unfortunately wasn’t the case,’ she said.

‘They did offer breakfast, but I didn’t know if that was going to be included. So for the first two nights I stayed there I had to eat out every day.

‘I had to get the bus and walk down into Town, quite hot in June and at 38 weeks pregnant the last thing I wanted to be doing.

‘But I thought they can’t put me anywhere else, it’s for the safety of me and my child to stay there.’

On the second night some fellow guests became rowdy. ‘There were a lot of drunk people about and someone running round the hotel banging on the doors,’ said Lucie.

‘It was quite scary. The next morning I rang the midwife and said I want to go home.’

She went back to Alderney and returned four days before her due date, with her family. She was induced on 3 July at 40 weeks and went home with new-born Toby in her arms.

But the experience has left its mark, making her question whether to stay living in Alderney if they decide to have a third child.

‘We spent close to £1,000 going down there for four nights – and trying to keep a two-year-old entertained in a tiny little hotel room in that heat is not fun.

‘We had to go out every day and spend money we didn’t want to spend. I don’t think they realise the knock-on effect it’s having on parents.

‘It’s made us consider whether we are really going to be able to have another child here or whether we have to move away because I don’t think the States are supporting families on the island at all.’

Her family is not alone. Most expectant mothers from Alderney have to make the difficult choice whether to spend weeks alone in Guernsey – with the attendant childcare issues for other offspring in Alderney – or have the family decamp to Guernsey, which for working fathers is often not possible.

HSC said the length of stay has nothing to do with the reduced hours of medevac cover which were set in stone when Employment & Social Security signed a deal with Aurigny last year.

It stipulates that the airline would perform medevacs from 5.45am to 9pm for most of the year and until 7.30pm in July and August.

Asked how often the self-catering accommodation unit for Alderney patients was full, and if there were any plans to increase what was available, an HSC spokesman said: ‘Mothers from Alderney are invited to Guernsey in ample time prior to their due date so that they can receive prompt care should they need it.

‘Mothers are housed in a variety of locations dependent on availability, ranging from staff accommodation, a private room on the ward or the private sector. Peak summer months can make finding suitable accommodation challenging.’