Ridge Meadows Hospital to temporarily close maternity ward

Fraser Health announced that the Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge will close its maternity unit between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19.

The health authority says the closure is the consequence of a “temporary gap” in coverage by available OBGYNs.

The closure will start on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 8 a.m. and will last until Monday, Jan. 19, at 8 a.m.

Thursday will be the second closure at the hospital in Maple Ridge within less than one month.

On Dec.18, the maternity unit was closed for 96 hours until Dec. 22.

The maternity ward in White Rock’s Peace Arch Hospital was affected three times within less than 30 days by closures related to staffing shortages.

The most recent closure in White Rock ended earlier this month.

In a written statement, Fraser Health says that it has implemented diverting patients to other hospitals in these cases.

“If you are in labour or have a pregnancy concern, please call the Maternity Unit first. Our staff will direct you to the appropriate hospital for care,” Fraser Health said.

Temporary unit closures due to staffing shortages have affected many B.C. hospitals in recent years.

Communities like Kamloops, Prince George, and other areas were temporarily without OBGYN coverage in the previous few months.

Dr. Chelsea Elwood, vice president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of B.C. (SOGBC), says doctors from across the province wrote a letter to Health Minister Josie Osborne last October.

They wanted to warn her and the entire government of a looming crisis in maternity care.

Now, Elwood says the province is well past that point.

SOGBC says it is a ‘crisis point’

“I think that at this point in time, we are no longer in a looming maternity crisis. We would consider this a crisis point,” Elwood told 1130NewsRadio.

“We have closures not only here in the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley, but throughout the province, Kamloops, Prince George and other sites.”

She says that the SOGBC have been hoping that the province will come up with a B.C.-wide approach to solving staffing issues.

“That really hasn’t happened. It’s been sort of a piecemeal approach to plugging one hole, trying to approach 11 sites and not looking at the global picture,” Elwood said.

She notes that patients experience stress in not having access to their care team if they need to.

Sometimes, Elwood says, patients must travel out of town to access the needed care and pay for any additional costs out of pocket.

“Those patients then have to relocate themselves; they go somewhere else, their families are not there for support,” Elwood added.

“It is a very stressful situation from both an emotional perspective and a financial perspective. It is a financial burden for people having to move out of their hometowns.”

With files from Srushti Gangdev.