Wawa-news.com You can't hear the 'big picture'!
Today, only nine rural hospital sites supported by approximately 35 rural family physicians are providing labour and delivery services to the 50,000 rural Northern Ontarians of childbearing age. Twenty years ago, there were 20 rural hospital sites providing labour and delivery services. Twenty years before that, nearly every hospital in Northern Ontario had these services.
Northern Policy Institute’s latest publication, Delivering Solutions: An Action Plan for Sustaining Rural Birthing in Northern Ontario, presents a plan to address the decline of rural labour and delivery services and support the sustainability of the few programs that remain operational.
“We fully endorse Ontario’s stated goal of ‘…giving you the right care in the right place, providing faster access to services, and growing our health care workforce…'”, says Dr. Eliseo Orrantia, a co-author of the report and a rural generalist physician in Marathon, ON with 25 years of experience in providing labour and delivery care. “Yet, as rural labour and delivery programs continue to close across Northern Ontario, pregnant persons face longer travel times to access care, resulting in worse health outcomes and substantial costs for both patients and the healthcare system. Our report outlines strategies to prevent further closures and ensure that care remains accessible where it’s needed most – closer to home.”
Annually, out-of-pocket medical travel costs for pregnant persons in rural northern Ontario are estimated to reach up to $5.7 million. Additionally, the healthcare system bears a significant financial burden from managing complications in newborns and mothers caused by the necessity of traveling for care.
The report’s authors highlight many of the root causes underlying the closure of labour and delivery services in rural Northern Ontario hospitals and identify potential solutions. They recommend turning these findings into action. This means the development of a government-backed regional strategic plan for rural obstetrics to help sustain and support the remaining labour and delivery programs operational across the rural North.
“This report and its associated action plan is just the first step. It’s really a call, a plea, for the development of a full strategic plan to sustain and support rural obstetrics – one that is clear, actionable, and responsive to the needs of the region,” says Orrantia.
Want to learn more about creative ways we can sustain and improve obstetrical care in rural Northern Ontario? Read the report: https://www.northernpolicy.ca/delivering-solutions
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