The president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of B.C. is sounding the alarm over what she calls a maternity crisis in British Columbia, in the wake of another maternity diversion at White Rock’s Peace Arch Hospital.
The most recent maternity diversion at Peace Arch Hospital — from Thursday, March 12 through Wednesday, March 18 — is the eighth such diversion since December, and the fifth so far this year.
Maternity diversions have been happening at both Peace Arch and Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge since December of last year, due to a temporary shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists, according to Fraser Health, meaning expecting parents who had planned to give birth at these hospitals may be guided to another maternity site to deliver their babies.
Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of B.C. president Dr. Chelsea Elwood, who penned a letter to Health Minister Josie Osborne last October in support of several OBGYNS in the Kamloops area who submitted their mass resignations in connection with concerns about maternity and gynecological services, warned the minister in that letter of the “looming maternity crisis” in the province.
Now, Elwood said B.C. is “absolutely” in a crisis when it comes to maternity care.
“We have said the same thing now for months on end. More than a year ago, we sat down with the government and the ministry of health,” Elwood said Friday (March 13). “We had agreed upon some principles to stabilize OBGYN care through the province of B.C. … we had gotten to the point where we had those principles agreed upon … we were happy to move forward. Unfortunately, that process has been halted by the minister of health and we are no longer at the table.”
Elwood would like to see everyone including Osborne and “go back to what we previously talked about, which is a thoughtful, provincial approach to stabilizing the network, not only for Peace Arch, not only for Ridge Meadows, but also for Kamloops, for Prince George, and for other sites, including Vancouver General Hospital … to ensure safe care for pregnant people.”
OBGYNs focus on pregnant women but also, perform such things as gynecologic cancer surgery, pelvic reconstructions and more, but wait times for gynecological care have only gotten longer while access to gynecological care has been decreasing, Elwood said.
Osborne, who was in Surrey earlier this year to announce a new urgent and primary care facility, declined to say whether the ongoing diversions constitute a crisis in the province’s health-care system.
She also could not say how much longer the diversions at both hospitals will continue.
“I know that Fraser Health is working really hard to be able to fill those gaps and, again, working with the physician groups and doing everything they can to attract locums and and fill those gaps.”
The Fraser Health website called the timing of potential future maternity diversions “dynamic” as the health authority collaborates with its physician group to “proactively address staffing gaps.”
Elwood doesn’t foresee any change with the ongoing maternity diversions.
“There will be no change in the diversions until there’s a change … from the ministry of health … until the network is stabilized,” Elwood said.
Maternity diversions at Peace Arch Hospital since Dec. 7, 2025 include:
• Dec. 7 to 10, 2025
• Dec. 22 to 25, 2025
• Dec. 29, 2025, to Jan. 1, 2026
• Jan. 8 to Jan. 12, 2026
• Jan. 22 to Jan. 26, 2026
• Feb. 5 to Feb. 10, 2026
• Feb. 19 to Feb. 25, 2026
• March 12 to March 18, 2026