Double blow

QHC to close maternity care in Picton, more County doctors to reassess their future in this community

A pregnant mom notices that her baby hasn’t kicked all day. Otherwise she is feeling all right and no other signs of trouble are apparent. But there is a nagging worry creeping into the back of her mind. The young life growing inside her has not been this quiet before. She considers going to the hospital but the cab ride is $50 to the Belleville hospital. So she waits. Suppresses the worry. The next day the baby still isn’t moving. She can’t wait any longer. She hires the cab and travels across the County to Belleville. But it is too late. Her baby is dead.

The farther you have to drive for obstetrical care, the worse the outcome for you and your baby. These are among the findings of a joint position paper produced by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada last year from research conducted between 1995 and 2012. This isn’t conjecture—this is evidence-based fact.

END OF THE FUTURE
It is against this backdrop that Quinte Health Care made it official last Friday. It will close maternity and obstetrical care at Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital in August. No more will babies be born in Picton’s hospital.

As of September expecting moms in the County will have to rely on Belleville for emergency obstetrical care. According to the evidence presented by the SOGC, County moms and babies will be at a greater risk for poorer outcomes.

DOCS RE-EXAMINE OPTIONS
With the official closure of obstetrics at PECMH the County may lose two more doctors. A week ago Drs. Darren Lett and Lisa Forster advised their patients they would leave the County at the end of the summer—unhappy with the changes to the Picton Hospital.

Drs. Margaret Tromp and David Beach now say they are also considering their future in Prince Edward County. It is a double blow for this community.

“I am very disappointed by the loss of obstetrics in Picton,” said Dr. Tromp. “It is a small, but very important part of my practice. I want to continue to do obstetrics and we are looking at our options.”

Initially, Dr. Tromp will follow her patients to the Belleville hospital. She acknowledges that this will be difficult while running a family practice in Picton, given the unpredictable nature of obstetrics. Drs. Tromp and Beach have been in Picton for 14 years, have raised their family there, and consider Picton to be their home.

WHY?
In a statement released late last Friday QHC said that it has “long stated that it would continue to provide maternity services at Picton as long as there were adequate nursing and physician resources”.

But as part of its lopsided cost-cutting in the hospital corporation, QHC eliminated about half the nurses with obstetrical training at PECMH. The hospital corporation set the hurdle for maternity care in Picton— then made sure it couldn’t overcome it. QHC also pointed to gaps in nursing coverage as part of the rationale for closing obstetrics in Picton.

“Three times over the past four months nurses were not available to help deliver babies and any laboring women were automatically sent to BGH to deliver their babies.”

Yet, as the Times reported exclusively last week, Belleville General, faced with a gap in pediatrician coverage, was forced to send five premature babies by ambulance to Kingston for care. Then again this week, despite claims by QHC vice president Katherine Stansfield that the hospital corporation would do everything to avoid future pediatric gaps at BGH, the Belleville hospital was again without pediatric coverage on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

No one at QHC has yet suggested that BGH should close its pediatric services due to these gaps.

QHC statements notes that fewer than 35 babies are born each year in Picton and the trend toward an aging population in the County makes it unlikely that the demand for maternity services will rise in the foressable future. Unsaid, however, is that without obstetrics and maternity care, the County will be an increasingly uninviting community for young families and expecting parents.

DIMINISHED CARE
Earlier this year QHC chief Mary Clare Egberts told this community that their quality of health care would not be diminished as the Picton hospital got smaller. Few believed it.

Now expecting moms will have to weigh the cost and inconvenience of travelling to Belleville against their own instincts to seek help. Those with fewer means will be forced to make terrible, unacceptable choices. Mothers and babies will suffer—needlessly. The evidence is clear.

Four County physicians have signalled they cannot live with the changes at PECMH.

QHC is balancing its books on the lives of the folks who live in Prince Edward County.