Midwifery services in western Manitoba to be suspended until fall due to staffing shortage

Midwifery services in western Manitoba will be temporarily halted amid what the local health authority says is an "unforeseen" staffing shortage.

Prairie Mountain Health is advising pregnant women who'd hoped to give birth at home within the next six months to go to hospital instead, with birth and on-call midwifery services set to be suspended from April 1 to Sept. 30.

"We sincerely apologize that we are not able to provide all aspects of care at this time," a memo notifying clients about the suspension said. "Please know this was a very difficult decision for our PMH program and staff."

CEO Treena Slate said in a statement Tuesday midwifery services will continue to provide prenatal, postpartum and newborn appointments and care.

Prairie Mountain's midwifery services are based out of Brandon. The health authority said clients will be referred there for deliveries, though it added facilities in Dauphin and Neepawa also offer birthing services.

Slate said Prairie Mountain Health is offering clinical training and mentorship opportunities. She said it's also actively recruiting through advertising as well as conferences and the University of Manitoba career fair.

Government working on recruitment: Minister

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday one midwife is currently on leave, triggering the suspension. Asagwara reiterated the suspension will be temporary. 

In its latest budget, the Manitoba government set aside $1.1 million to create seven new positions for midwifery graduates. The budget also says the government is also working on bringing graduates to northern First Nations.

The minister blamed the current staffing situation on cuts to health-care services by the previous Progressive Conservative government.

"Our government has been successful in filling all of the midwife training seats, and we are graduating midwives in this province as a result," they said.

"We're going to graduate some more midwives in the spring and we're going to make sure they have a letter of offer for a job right here in Manitoba before they graduate."

Roblin MLA Kathleen Cook, the PCs' health critic, said the fact the suspension is temporary won't provide any comfort for expecting mothers.

"If you're a pregnant woman, you can't delay your delivery date until the temporary problem is behind us. It forces those women into an entirely different model of care than what they were expecting," Cook said. 

"For some women, the ability to give birth at home … is crucial to them," she said. "To be told that they now have to give birth in a hospital with an ob-gyn is disappointing to them. It's not the same."

Cook said it was the PCs who established the University of Manitoba's midwifery program in 2021. A previous program which was to be jointly offered with University College of the North was cancelled in 2016.

"We didn't hear any solutions from the minister today," she said. "We heard continued deflection and blame, but nothing that's going to reassure women who are pregnant in Prairie Mountain Health right now."