{"id":27267,"date":"2025-07-27T06:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27267\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T06:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:41:11","slug":"health-authorities-warn-of-potential-maternity-care-reductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/27267\/","title":{"rendered":"Health authorities warn of potential maternity care reductions"},"content":{"rendered":"

When family doctors or midwives in northern B.C. encounter a high-risk pregnancy, they turn to the obstetrical specialists at Prince George\u2019s University Hospital of Northern B.C.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The hospital is the only facility in the region that can handle complicated deliveries.<\/p>\n

But starting in August, there won\u2019t be enough specialists on hand, meaning some patients could be sent hundreds of kilometres away for care.<\/p>\n

\u201cGaps in specialist coverage beginning in August 2025 have the potential to require service reductions, and there will be occasions where we may need to transfer you (at no cost to you) to another centre in the province to ensure the safety of you and your baby,\u201d reads a statement shared by Northern Health from the hospital\u2019s department of obstetrics.<\/p>\n

B.C.\u2019s official opposition in the legislature has raised concerns about the potential disruption.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe can\u2019t expect pregnant women to have to travel all the way to Kamloops, Kelowna or Vancouver to deliver a baby,\u201d said B.C. Conservative MLA Kiel Giddens, who represents Prince George-Mackenzie.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe need that basic standard of care here in northern B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

B.C Health Minister Josie Osborne commented on the obstetrics specialist shortage at an unrelated news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health authorities I know are doing everything they can to alleviate that strain to work with physicians and care teams to ensure services are there for people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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The specialist shortage adds to existing primary care gaps and emergency room closures that are hitting rural communities hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cObstetrics is of additional concern, because we\u2019re dealing now with two lives, that of a mother and a child,\u201d said Paul Adams, executive director of the BC Rural Health Network.<\/p>\n

In Kamloops, physician shortages are now stretching Royal Inland Hospital\u2019s maternity department, with impacts expected through August.<\/p>\n

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A public service announcement from Interior Health says patients without a primary or maternal care provider may be transferred from RIH to other hospitals for delivery if they require specialized care or their care history is unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody does not have a care provider they will still be assessed and determined if in active or inactive labour,\u201d said Pete Bosma, executive medical director for Interior Health North.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are some scenarios where patients may be sent out, but it just depends on how they\u2019re presenting at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Locums are being pulled from other regions to cover gaps.<\/p>\n

Adams says the service cuts put pressure on smaller communities that rely on hospitals in Kamloops and Prince George, exposing an outdated, urban-focused system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we go through things like primary care reform [and] rebuilding system designs, we can\u2019t keep using the same old horse and buggy approach to health care,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

These latest disruptions come not long after some pediatric services returned to Kelowna General Hospital, following a seven-week closure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When family doctors or midwives in northern B.C. encounter a high-risk pregnancy, they turn to the obstetrical specialists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,5432,392,21645,44,21646,21644],"class_list":["post-27267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-kamloops","tag-news","tag-prince-george","tag-rural-health-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}