Barely a few months after its opening, the new Family Birth Unit at Notre-Dame hospital in Montreal is ending its operations until at least September, in order to ensure the safety of pregnant people and staff, learned from La Presse.
The Family Birth Unit was created last February, almost four years later than planned. Its opening was postponed three times, due to delays in completing the work and the difficulty of recruiting staff.
“There were a lot of pitfalls. It was a very bumpy start,” recalls the agreements and grievances coordinator at the Union of Workers of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Martine Lescault.
“This is a difficult decision to make and one we didn’t want to come to. However, it is necessary to ensure the safety of pregnant people and staff members,” says the media relations advisor at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Marianne Paquette.
Families whose delivery was planned in the coming weeks will be redirected to other centers, including the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital and the CHUM. The obstetrics clinic will continue to carry out pregnancy follow-ups.
The unit will remain closed until there are “qualified and competent” staff on all shifts. “When we have these ingredients, we will reopen. We hope as soon as possible, but we will not compromise the safety of future babies to open in an unsafe manner,” says the director of the Youth Program at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Jason Champagne .
As soon as the unit opened, recruiting staff proved difficult, especially for evening and weekend shifts. “Over the past few weeks, the team has had to deal with departures due to various situations beyond their control such as moves, other professional opportunities, maternity leave, etc. », adds Ms. Paquette.
The unit has come close to breaking down services three times in recent months due to a lack of nurses. Transfers had to be made to other hospitals for periods of about 48 hours. “We still had babies on the unit, but the mother was going to give birth at the CHUM,” explains Mr. Champagne.
Despite the lack of staff, the care provided has always been safe, says the director of nursing at CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Julie Darveau. “We always had an assessment to ensure we had the staff required for the number of mothers and babies. »
As a precaution, the unit ceased operations on June 12. “Our greatest wish would have been to avoid a closure during the summer season. It’s a disappointment, for sure,” admits Mr. Champagne.
The unit’s nurses will continue their practice in other birth centers, notably at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital and at the CHUM, until its planned reopening next fall. “Our teams will travel every week to meet each of the nurses in order to follow their progress,” says Ms. Darveau.
For their part, beneficiary attendants as well as administrative agents will be integrated into other services within the establishment, indicates the CIUSSS.
Currently, the unit is still looking to fill 17 positions, 7 during the day and 10 at night. “We have a brand new unit, with cutting-edge technology. We want nurses to want to come to us,” says Mr. Champagne. “All our energy is focused on recruiting.”
The unit was supposed to accommodate 1,500 deliveries per year, or about 125 per month. Since its opening in February, only 44 children have been born there.
