Hospital trying to work out midwife-obstetrician impasse

Midwife Kathy Wells (r) and her client Jennifer Gordon listen to comments from members of the North Bay General Hospital board of directors. Photo by Phil Novak, BayToday.ca.

The North Bay General Hospital has refused to grant hospital privileges to a local midwife despite funding for more midwifery resources for the city from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, midwife Kathy Wells says.

Wells, who began Midwives*Sages-Femmes of North Bay in 1999, addressed the hospital board Thursday evening, bolstered by about 50 supporters. She was followed by one of her clients, North Bay resident Jennifer Gordon, who gave birth to her second daughter, Aili, using midwives.

Right now there are three registered midwives in North Bay, with only two of them, Wells and Audrey ten Westeneind, having hospital privileges.

When a third, Connie Fetterly, applied, she was turned down.

Local obstetricians have not been in support of privileges for more midwives citing decreasing birth numbers and one other major factor, Wells said.

“It is my understanding that their concerns include that this is an income issue, that we are taking money from their pockets, and that they are concerned that if we lose an obstetrician, we will have difficulty in attracting another if there are low birth numbers,” Wells said.

“They would be willing to allow more midwives if they were compensated for the loss of income and suggested that an alternate payment plan should be put in place.”

Board chairman Barry Bertrand said the hospital has been working for the last three months “trying to get both parties to work together” on some sort of solution.

“We’ve been pushing the ministry to come up with an alternative payment plan for this because ultimately it ends up back in their lap because they’re the ones who have been giving us the information and direction to move with midwives trying to get everybody back at the table to make sure this happens ASAP,” Bertrand said.

Wells said her midwifery practice has to grow “in order to be sustainable.”

If Fetterly were to be granted privileges, Wells said, North Bay midwives will be doing slightly more that 120 births per year.

Health ministry date indicates the financial impact of an additional midwife on care providers in the community at $24,000.

“So, due to the fact that our total birth numbers will not be changing by 40, the financial impact on the care providers would be less than this $24,000.