PREGNANT women in Lochaber face travelling to Inverness for a scan, which can mean a round trip of more than 200 miles.

The journey is necessary because the health board is unable to recruit a suitably qualified sonographer to operate the ultrasound equipment in Belford Hospital in Fort William.

For those in Fort William without a car, it means a two-hour bus trip to Raigmore Hospital, but longer for those in the remoter communities.

The position has been getting more difficult since 2008 when Scottish Government guidelines required additional scanning to be carried out.

Dr Michael Foxley, the former leader of the Highland Council who was a GP in Fort William for 35 years and is now a board member of NHS Highland, said it was a service that needed to be available locally.

A local petition has been launched and Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, has written to NHS Highland to raise his concerns.

But senior midwife Sarah McLeod, at NHS Highland, said: "We need to ensure that we have appropriately trained staff and they must also follow national programmes, some of which require at least 100 scans to be done by each sonographer per year in order to keep their skills and competency up to a high standard."