Lack of staff nearly closes Brandon maternity ward

A western Manitoba hospital came dangerously close to shutting the doors to its maternity ward on Thursday due to lack of staff.

On Wednesday afternoon, as many were celebrating the start of a new year, the Prairie Mountain Health Region (PMH) released a statement on its social media pages saying that “due to an unexpected absence,” the Brandon Regional Health Centre (BRHC) would be temporarily without maternity services from Jan. 2 at 8 a.m. until Jan. 3 at 8 a.m.

PMH warned that expectant mothers and anyone seeking maternity services during that time frame would have to go to another health-care centre to access those services.

But the closure of the maternity ward was averted, as around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, PMH announced “medical provider coverage” had been secured in maternity services at BRHC to avoid the shutdown.

“Maternity services will no longer experience a disruption,” PMH said on Wednesday, and the maternity ward was open on Thursday.

Reaction to PMH’s post on Wednesday about the shutdown being averted ranged from confusion to outright anger, as some are now wondering how it got to the point where the health authority almost shut down an entire maternity ward in Manitoba’s second-largest city.

“As a patient who needed these services for their high-risk birth, I was terrified for all the other expectant mothers in my position. This is inexcusable and should have never happened,” Katie Lausch Leduc posted on the PMH Facebook page.

Outrage also came from Brandon resident Mikaila Boucher who posted on Facebook, “Rerouting them 2 hours on winter highways is unacceptable. Babies will be born on the highway. That is dangerous for everyone. This is not OK.”

In an email, PMH CEO Treena Slate said they were grateful not to have to close the ward on Thursday, but she did not give any additional information on what led up to the unexpected closure in the first place.

“In times of staff and medical provider shortage, PMH makes every effort to fill shortages as soon as they are known, including seeking resources from around the province,” Slate said. “In the event that a service interruption cannot be avoided, extensive planning occurs to ensure safe care is provided.

“Fortunately, in this recent case involving Brandon Regional Health Centre obstetrical services, medical provider coverage was secured to ensure no disruption of services. PMH is grateful to the support that was received from within our region and provincially in this planning.

Slate added, “recruitment and retention continues to be a top priority for PMH. Two new OB/GYNs are anticipated to join BRHC in January 2025 and April 2025 respectively.”

Concerns about staffing levels at the maternity ward in Brandon were also raised by a nurse in the fall, as a post on the Manitoba Nurses Union Facebook page on Nov. 7, from a nurse who said they worked in the ward said “This specialized unit is sinking. We have been losing experienced labour-trained staff consistently over the past several months.

“The staff who are sticking around are burnt out and running on fumes. We are short-staffed every shift and desperately need our baseline staffing to increase. The maternity staff deserve better, and the maternity patients of Westman and surrounding area deserve better.”

This story was originally published in The Winnipeg Sun. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.