\u2018Crisis\u2019 in maternity care continues at Ridge Meadows Hospital<\/p>\n
Published 11:45 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026<\/p>\n
Expectant mothers cannot use the hospital in Maple Ridge over the coming days, starting Wednesday.<\/p>\n
There is another maternity diversion at Ridge Meadows Hospital \u2013 the seventh since the diversions started in December.<\/p>\n
The diversion will be in effect from March 18 at 8 a.m. until March 23 at 8 a.m.<\/p>\n
Women who are in labour, or who have a pregnancy concern are asked to call Ridge Meadows Hospital (604-463-4111) and ask to be connected to the maternity unit. Staff will advise them to proceed to the appropriate hospital.<\/p>\n
The last diversion ended on March 9.<\/p>\n
According to Fraser Health, the diversions happening due to the unexpected departures of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at Ridge Meadows and Peace Arch Hospitals in 2025, leaving physician shifts uncovered. During a diversion period, patients in labour or with urgent pregnancy-related health concerns will be directed to another hospital to receive support from a care team.<\/p>\n
Dr. Chelsea Elwood, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of B.C. says there is a maternity crisis in the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have said the same thing now for months on end. More than a year ago, we sat down with the government and the ministry of health,\u201d Elwood said Friday (March 13). \u201cWe had agreed upon some principles to stabilize OBGYN care through the province of B.C. \u2026 we had gotten to the point where we had those principles agreed upon \u2026 we were happy to move forward. Unfortunately, that process has been halted by the minister of health and we are no longer at the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elwood doesn\u2019t foresee any change with the ongoing maternity diversions. \u201cThere will be no change in the diversions until there\u2019s a change \u2026 from the ministry of health \u2026 until the network is stabilized,\u201d Elwood said.<\/p>\n
Fraser Health said it is working hard to recruit obstetrician-gynecologists to Peace Arch and Ridge Meadows Hospitals, using national and international recruitment to fill positions as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
\u2013 With files from Tricia Leslie\/Peace Arch News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Crisis\u2019 in maternity care continues at Ridge Meadows Hospital Published 11:45 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026 Expectant mothers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-544201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544201","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=544201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}