This ultra sound photo shows a baby due to be born in Kamloops in June.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jordyn Jeffrey

It took a couple of weeks, stress and tears before a first-time pregnant mother in Kamloops was able to access prenatal care.

When Jordyn Jeffrey was 21 weeks along in her pregnancy, she found out she’d been declined as a patient at Kamloops’s biggest maternity care provider Thompson Region Family Obstetrics.

“I didn’t know what to do, I broke down and cried, it was really stressful,” she said.

Jeffrey has a family physician who doesn’t specialize in prenatal care and was initially referred to the obstetrics clinic but said she never heard back and started panicking. While at a different clinic at the hospital for unrelated health issues, Jeffrey pressed the staff to find out about her referral.

Someone called back to let her know the referral had been declined and suggested she find care in Salmon Arm or Vernon.

“They were pretty sure it was due to staffing shortages, (Thompson Region Family Obstetrics) can only take so many patients per month,” Jeffrey said. “I was concerned I’d have to go to Salmon Arm or Vernon and wondered how I’d financially do that, get prenatal care in a city over an hour away.”

Jeffrey followed up with her doctor and called different clinics around town looking for help.

“I found out patients were accessing care in other communities, which is shocking for a city of this size,” Jeffrey said. “It should be the other way around, I just can’t get over it.”

Eventually Jeffrey’s doctor was able to find her care with a different family physician that specializes in prenatal care.

“One clinic I spoke to said they had patients getting declined as well, essentially there is still a section of the population that doesn’t have prenatal care here.”

READ MORE: MAID: Growing number of people in Interior Health choosing procedure

Formed two decades ago, Thompson Region Family Obstetrics is a group of family physicians and midwives in Kamloops who rotate as a team to provide maternity care from early pregnancy, through labour and birth, until six weeks following delivery.

The clinic takes in pregnant women who don’t have a family doctor from Kamloops and surrounding communities and delivers an average of 60 babies every month.

Pregnant patients require a referral to the clinic from a family physician, First Steps Early Pregnancy Clinic or the Urgent Primary Care Centre.

READ MORE: How to improve primary care services: Salmon Arm man takes part in provincial study

Last year, the clinic was on the brink of closure but were able to find more staff and funding to keep going.

The Interior Health Authority does not oversee the operations of the clinic and could not provide specific comments about the clinic, however a Kamloops communications spokesperson for the authority told iNFOnews.ca there is a wider maternity care challenge for all provider groups in Kamloops and it isn’t isolated to one clinic.

This is due to staffing shortages, doctors retiring and more people coming in from surrounding communities seeking maternity care.

READ MORE: Almost half of those in Interior Health waiting for a family doctor are in Kamloops

Jeffrey is not the only one struggling to access primary care.

Almost one million British Columbians currently don’t have, and can’t get, a family doctor, while 40% of those who have a doctor are worried they will lose them to practice closure or retirement, according to the B.C. College of Family Physicians.

Recent trends in the province show more physicians are dropping their in hospital obstetrical privileges or are choosing not to incorporate obstetrics into their practices, which is contributing to the province’s growing need for primary maternity care providers, according to the B.C. Family Practices Service Committee.

“I know health care is struggling in our area, and when a woman can’t access simple health care for their baby it shows there is still a long way to go," Jeffrey said. 

Thompson Region Family Obstetrics didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2024