Women’s & Children’s Health
I live about a half hour drive from St. Catharines. When that is the only hospital offering obstetrics, what should I do if my labour has begun and it looks like I’m going to suddenly deliver my baby?
For the very small percentage of women who are suddenly close to delivering their baby soon after labour begins, the safest course is always to call 911, no matter how far away you are from the new health-care complex in west St. Catharines. The ambulance is a far safer place to be in an emergency situation than a personal vehicle. Advanced-care paramedics are trained in deliveries and can receive direction from Niagara’s base hospital physicians immediately.
What if my child gets sick? Do I have to go to the new St. Catharines hospital?
No. All NHS Emergency Departments and 14-hour Prompt Care Centres will continue to offer assessment and treatment services for infants, children and teenagers. Currently, 96% of paediatric patients coming to our Emergency Departments are treated and released the same day. In the 4% of emergency patients considered to be serious cases such as emergency surgery, these patients may be transferred by ambulance to the Women’s & Children’s Health Centre at the new health-care complex in St. Catharines.
Isn’t it unreasonable to ask mothers in labour to travel all the way to St. Catharines?
The vast majority of women have hours of labour before they deliver their babies, therefore ample time to get to the hospital. Our mapping studies show that travel time for 90% of Niagara residents to the new health-care complex in St. Catharines will be 30 minutes or less – shorter than travel times to hospitals for many patients in the greater Toronto area and elsewhere in Ontario. For the few cases where an emergency delivery may be necessary, the safest course is to call 911 and travel to hospital by ambulance.
What is a Centre of Excellence for Women’ & Children’s Health?
A Centre of Excellence for Women’s and Children’s Health, being recommended for the new health-care complex in St. Catharines when it opens in four or five years, is one of the elements of our overall vision to improve patient care across Niagara into the future. This Centre for Women’s & Children’s Health will change from our current focus on women of childbearing age to women’s care across all ages – from those who need obstetrical care, to health services for menopausal and post-menopausal women. This Centre of Excellence also would provide care to infants, children and youth up to age 18 who require paediatric care. Our vision for women’s care includes breast screening, bone densitometry, gynecology and other female-specific care, targeting the majority of our female population, which is approaching or over age 50.
Why can’t we continue to offer the services we currently have?
There are a number of reasons why our current three departments in Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland aren’t sustainable. Firstly, the number of births in Niagara is declining as our population ages. This means fewer births at each of our hospitals each year. It has dropped by 346 births in the last six years to just under 3,000 live births per year, and we expect that trend to continue.
International research studies show that there should be more then 2,000 births in a single obstetrics department to ensure that risks to mother and baby are kept to a minimum. By combining all three delivery programs, we’ll continue to have more than 2,000 births in one Centre of Excellence. Our staff will be able to use the full scope of their skills.
Another concern is the increasing shortage of both physicians and nurses to staff our three programs 24 hours per day. There is a national shortage of nurses and as our nurses near retirement age, we expect to have more problems adequately staffing our current units.
Why can’t we have birthing centres, rather than full-service maternity units in all three cities? They don’t need to be as high-tech.
One of the main issues in continuing to have three obstetrics departments is the difficulty in staffing the units. Whether we provide birthing centres or full-services obstetrical programs, we still need RNs and RPNs staffing the departments with mid-wives, and physician specialists providing back-up. The average age of our specialists is now 57, and we simply won’t have enough staff to sustain three separate units in the future.
Once the Centre of Excellence is created, will our children still have to be transferred to Hamilton or Toronto?
Yes, the Centre of Excellence in St. Catharines will certainly offer comprehensive care, but sub-specialty or tertiary care will still be best provided in teaching centres such as those in Hamilton and Toronto. However, we do plan to offer some enhanced services so we can bring back premature babies to our special care nursery sooner than they can return to Niagara now. We’re also planning to have three paediatric beds to provide continuous monitoring of critically-ill children, such as those with severe respiratory condition. As well, for the first time in Niagara, four beds will be assigned for children and youth requiring hospitalization for mental health issues.
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