A Kamloops obstetrics clinic that delivers an average of 60 babies each month is slated to close this summer due to a shortage of doctors.
The Thompson Region Family Obstetrics (TRFO) clinic is not accepting any patients with an expected due date past July 31.
“We’ve kind of been scrambling for the last couple of years to maintain our on-call coverage,” Dr. Shaun Davis, who has been with TRFO for five years, told Castanet Kamloops.
“It started to come to a head in about April of last year — that was when we saw that this was going to become critical.”
Davis said despite recruitment efforts, the staffing problem has not improved. He wrote a letter that was sent out late last week to all Kamloops care providers advising them of the impending closure. In the letter, TRFO is described as "a cornerstone" of Kamloops obstetrical care.
“We’ve continued to work with Interior Health to try to come up with solutions for this problem, but despite everybody’s efforts we still don’t have a solution,” Davis said Wednesday.
“The biggest problem is numbers. We just don’t have the numbers of people.”
TRFO was formed in the early 2000s by a group of Kamloops doctors with an interest in maternity care. It is a referral clinic staffed by a rotating team of more than a dozen physicians and two midwives. The doctors who see TRFO patients have their own practises and work outside of the clinic.
Davis said the clinic delivers between 50 and 70 babies monthly. He said the average is about 60 per month.
(According to IH data, Royal Inland Hospital saw 1,228 babies delivered in 2021 — a little more than 100 per month.)
Patients are referred to the TRFO clinic by IH or by family doctors who do not deliver babies themselves. The clinic has served as a safety net in recent years for pregnant women who do not have a family doctor.
Davis said the worst-case scenario would see families going without prenatal care.
“That is the worst-case scenario and that is not somewhere that anybody wants to be,” he said.
“We do care about all the patients, even those who are not in our clinic. But we’re kind of stuck in an ethical dilemma. If we continue to provide coverage in these circumstances, it’s a risk to our licences. … We’re having to cancel other clinics, we’re having to give up other areas of work, we’re sacrificing our health and our family lives.”
Doula Kayla Wolfe, who owns Birth Matters, said she expects the closure of TRFO will have a significant impact in Kamloops.
“I think it will be a big hit for the community,” she said, encouraging people to contact their MLAs and MPs to advocate for change.
“People are, in general, looking for family doctors, but also it’s going to be hard to find that prenatal care because there’s not a lot of other options out there.”
Davis said TRFO representatives have been in discussions with Interior Health and B.C.’s Ministry of Health trying to come up with a solution. He said those talks have involved plans for recruitment of locums and new doctors, as well as advocating for a new payment contract.
When asked about the likelihood of a deal being worked out before the end of July, Davis said he's hopeful.
“But I’m an optimist,” he said. “There are some things that have come up even in the last week that are hopefully going to help us find a solution to the problem.”
Castanet Kamloops contacted Interior Health and the Ministry of Health looking for information about the TRFO situation. IH and ministry representatives said information could likely be provided on Thursday.
