All obstetrician-gynecologists at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops, B.C., have jointly announced their resignations from the hospital, leaving some expectant parents worried for the future.
In a letter dated Saturday, the group of seven doctors said they decided to leave their full-scope ob-gyn practices due to safety issues resulting from a changing workload and ongoing recruitment struggles.
“It is fairly unprecedented for an entire group of physicians to depart, but with the state of obstetrics in our community and with the upcoming loss of the [Thompson Region Family Obstetrics] group, we see no viable way forward,” said doctors Hilary Baikie, Jennifer Kozic, Paula Lott, Erin Adams, Michael Hsiao, Rita Chuang and Christine Sutton in the letter.
The ob-gyns will no longer provide in-hospital care such as labour, delivery and caesarian sections once replacements can be found.
The doctors said they hope the “near total loss” of low- and high-risk obstetrics in Kamloops will motivate the Interior Health Authority to better support women’s health.
They said they plan to carefully phase out patient care, and a number of the doctors expect to continue in-office outpatient gynecology work.
They will send out notices for phased withdrawal of in-hospital care, and each surgeon will contact surgical patients on their waitlist to plan for next steps, according to the letter.
“RIH is the first larger centre to fold due to the systemic underfunding of women’s healthcare. We do not anticipate it will be the last,” the doctors warned.
CBC News contacted the seven doctors, but all declined to be interviewed.
Expectant mother Brianna Jones, who works at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and is 20 weeks pregnant, said the news of the resignations has her concerned for her delivery.
“I’m quite nervous for how that’s going to look, also as an older mom that also plays into things. So I’m hoping everything goes smoothly,” she said.
Recruitment a challenge: Interior Health
Interior Health president and CEO Sylvia Weir said the health authority will be a part of the transition planning along with Perinatal Services B.C. to ensure patient care is maintained.
Weir stressed that nothing will change for patients in the immediate future and added it will be a months-long process.
She said she spoke to the doctors over the weekend, and heard about their feelings of burnout.
Weir said she respected the doctors’ decision to resign, adding that the recruitment of obstetricians has been a challenge not only in B.C., but across Canada.
“But we have found qualified obstetricians in the past and we will find them again.”
Health minister says new recruits coming
B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said she takes the matter very seriously.
“It’s obviously very concerning to see a group of physicians who feel pushed to this point,” she said.
Osborne said the fundamental issue is a shortage of health-care professionals in particular areas like maternity services.
She said Interior Health has identified more than a dozen qualified candidates to bolster its ob-gyn position capacity.
She said the government is in the process of finalizing a new contract offer that would “significantly increase compensation to better support workloads [and] improve recruitment and retention.”
She added the health ministry is expanding the number of training seats to onboard more ob-gyns.
But Peter Milobar, B.C. Conservative MLA for Kamloops Centre, said it’s shocking to hear of the resignations and cause for other regions to worry for their own maternity care.
“This has been something that this government has been warned about for many years now, it’s fallen on deaf ears, and the doctors have taken this kind of extreme next step,” he said.
Milobar said he wants the health minister to commit to a long-term plan for maternity care in Kamloops.
