Jennifer Hutcheon
The closure of obstetric services at hospitals in British Columbia did not affect the frequency of adverse events related to labour and delivery, according to new research by the Faculty of Medicine.
Almost one-third of hospitals in B.C. have stopped planned obstetric services since 1998, with most closures at hospitals with fewer than 150 deliveries per year.
The study, published in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), analyzed 20,874 deliveries to women living in B.C. between 1998 and 2014.
Jennifer Hutcheon, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and an Investigator at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, found that even before the closure of local labour and delivery services, more than 40 per cent of deliveries took place in more-distant hospitals. This may explain why closures did not affect rates of adverse events, as higher-risk deliveries may have occurred at larger hospitals or birthing centres.
However, the authors noted that closures of local hospitals can have other consequences for women, their families and their communities and these factors must be considered when deciding to close planned obstetric services.
The authors cite previous research that found rural women without local maternity services are seven times more likely to experience moderate to severe delivery-related stress than women with local services. Financial issues related to relocating to a hospital, long travel distances, winter road conditions and separation from children can cause family stress.