All obstetrician-gynecologists at Kamloops, BC hospital announce resignation
All obstetrician-gynecologists at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops, BC, have jointly announced their resignation from the hospital. Some prospective parents are worried about the future.
in a letter Dated Saturday, The group of seven doctors said they have decided to abandon their full-scope ob-gyn practices due to safety issues as a result of changing workloads and ongoing recruitment struggles.
“The departure of an entire group of physicians is quite unprecedented, but with the state of obstetrics in our community and the upcoming loss of the (Thompson Area Family Obstetrics) group, we see no viable path forward,” Dr. Hillary Beckey, Jennifer Kozik, Paula Lott, Erin Adams, Michael Hsiao, Rita Chuang and Christine Sutton said in the letter.
Once a replacement is found, the obstetrician-gynecologist will no longer provide hospital care such as labor, delivery and cesarean sections.
Doctors said they hope the “almost complete loss” of low- and high-risk midwives in Kamloops will motivate the Interior Health Authority to better support women’s health.
They said they plan to carefully phase out inpatient care, and many doctors expect to continue doing outpatient gynecology work in the office.
According to the letter, they will send notices to phase out care at the hospital and each surgeon will contact surgical patients on their waiting list to plan next steps.
Doctors warned, “RIH is the first major center to be affected by the systemic lack of women’s health care. We do not think it will be the last.”
CBC News contacted seven doctors, but all declined to be interviewed.
Mom-to-be Brianna Jones, who works at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and is 20 weeks pregnant, said news of the resignations has her worried about her delivery.
She said, “I’m quite nervous about what it’s going to look like, even being a big mom who’s very involved in things. So I’m just hoping everything goes smoothly.”
Recruiting a Challenge: Interior Health
Interior Health president and CEO Sylvia Weir said the health authority will be part of the transition plan with Perinatal Services BC to ensure patient care.
Weir stressed that nothing will change for patients in the immediate future and said it will be a months-long process.
He said he spoke to doctors over the weekend and heard about their feelings of burnout.
Weir said she respects the doctors’ decision to resign, noting that recruiting obstetricians has been a challenge not only in B.C., but across Canada.
“But we have found qualified obstetricians before and we will find them again.”
Health Minister says new recruitments are coming
BC Health Minister Josie Osborne said she takes the matter very seriously.
“To see a group of physicians pushed to this point is obviously very concerning,” he said.
Osborne said the core issue is a shortage of health care professionals in specialized areas such as maternity services.
She said Interior Health has identified more than a dozen qualified candidates to expand its obstetrics-gynecologist position capacity.
He said the government is in the process of finalizing a new contract proposal that would “significantly increase compensation to better support workload (and) improve recruitment and retention.”
He said the Health Ministry is increasing the number of training seats to include more midwives.
But Peter Milobar, BC Conservative MLA for Kamloops Centre, said it was shocking to hear about the resignations and a cause for concern for other regions about their own maternity care.
“This is something this government has been warned about for many years, no attention has been paid to it, and doctors have taken this next step,” he said.
Milobar said he wants the health minister to commit to a long-term plan for maternity care in Kamloops.
