Staffing shortages at Chilliwack General Hospital (CGH) will have the maternity ward closed for several days in May, forcing expectant mothers to travel to Abbotsford for care. Six doctors at the Chilliwack Obstetrical Group sent a letter to patients this week confirming the closures. Chilliwack’s doors are expected to be closed on the following dates:
- Midnight May 4 to 8 a.m. May 5
- Midnight May 11 to 8 a.m. May 14
- Midnight May 18 to 8 a.m. May 19
- Midnight May 24 to 8 a.m. May 26
“Our hospital has been unable to secure obstetrician and gynaecologist coverage, which makes it impossible to provide emergency procedures such as cesarean section,” the letter stated. “This creates an unsafe environment for you and your growing family.”
Doctor Alison Henry is one of the six at the Chilliwack Obstetrical Group, and this is becoming a familiar exercise.
“Obviously I wish I didn’t have to send a letter like that out to my patients and I could know that they were going to have proper care in the community that they reside,” she said. “But that’s not the case.”
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Twice in the summer of 2019, maternity ward service was disrupted by a shortage of obstetricians/gynaecologists, and in August 2022 the reason was a shortage of pediatricians. A pediatrician is not required for all births, as long as things go well, so the maternity ward didn’t completely close. But if there were complications, patients ran the risk of being diverted to Abbotsford.
This time it’s a full closure.
CGH provides maternity care for women from Chilliwack and areas east, all the way out to Boston Bar. Driving from Chilliwack to Abbotsford is inconvenient, but probably not a big deal. But driving from Boston Bar to Abbotsford might be.
“For a woman in Boston Bar or Hope, for example, it’s a considerable distance to get to Abbotsford, close to an hour drive,” Henry said. “For women who’ve had children in the past and who might labour quite quickly, they might be at risk of not making it to the hospital in time. That does happen and it’s a known risk with living in a more rural community, and fingers crossed we hope there’s no poor outcome.”
Doctor shortages at every level is an ongoing concern, and Henry worries this might only be “the tip of the iceberg” for Chilliwack. Already there are whispers of more maternity ward disruptions this summer.
Henry said that around 2010 there were around 22 doctors delivering babies in Chilliwack. Now there are six.
Chilliwack is far from alone. The Thompson Region Family Obstetrics Clinic at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops is closing due to staffing issues. The Mission Maternity Clinic closed its doors for good last spring for the same reason, and communities B.C. wide are seeing the same thing.
Henry cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a source of burnout and attrition among her healthcare colleagues, and she said she feels it when she she has to be on call every sixth day.
“It’s a lot of extra work and a lot of time away from my practice and patients who are not pregnant who need my care,” Henry said. “When there’s not enough people to do the work, there’s more work to do and that’s tiring.”
There is no easy fix for the problem. Henry said steps are being taken to bring more new doctors into the healthcare system, but in the meantime things might get worse before they get better.
“The government’s doing a lot of things to improve it, but these things take time,” she said. “You can’t train doctors overnight. It can take 10 or more years, so it will take more time.”
Contacted by The Progress, Nick Eagland at Fraser Health said they have recruited an obstetrician who will likely start work at CGH in June.
“The health and well-being of all pregnant people and their babies is of utmost importance. Fraser Health is committed to ensuring babies, children and their parents have access to emergency and urgent care when they need it,” he said. “Temporary diversions are implemented as part of our regular operating procedure in many of the services we provide. They are intended to provide the best and safest care for patients at any time using our extensive network of hospitals and health care services.
We are aware of sporadic gaps in obstetrical coverage at Chilliwack General Hospital on four days in May and six days in June that may lead to us needing to implement temporary maternity diversions to nearby hospitals to ensure the safety of mothers and their babies. We continue to work with other Fraser Health hospitals and our health authority partners to cover any future diversions. Ahead of any temporary diversion periods, we reach out to all impacted patients directly via their physicians or midwives to ensure they are aware of the potential for redirection of care.”
The CGH maternity ward can be reached by phone at 604-795-4107.
The six doctors at the Chilliwack Obstetrics Group are Henry, Braeden Beaumont, Robert Brooks, Joel Krueger, Lori Laughland and Heather Leyen and you can get more info about them at https://pregnantinchilliwack.ca/.
@ProgressSports
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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