Royal Alexandra sees ‘new iteration’ of midwife supports as program moves to Fort Saskatchewan

Some midwifery service is staying at the Royal Alexandra Hospital after the majority of the program was moved out of Edmonton.

Although an in-house midwifery program at the Royal Alexandra Hospital moved to Fort Saskatchewan Community Hospital last month, midwife supports are still being offered in the central Edmonton hospital, the Alberta government and a provincial midwifery association has confirmed.

The Alberta Association of Midwives (AAM) president, Marita Obst, said the current midwifery resources at the Royal Alexandra were a “new iteration” of a previous round-the-clock program that was discontinued and moved to Fort Saskatchewan.

The In-Hospital Registered Midwifery program at the Royal Alexandra Hospital consisted of in-house midwives on shift to act as backup support for midwives and their birthing clients or act similar to how “nurses support physicians,” Obst said in an interview Tuesday.

In January, Primary Care Alberta (PCA) said it would be moving that in-house program to Fort Saskatchewan to support rural communities with a need for consistent maternity services.

That transition, a PCA spokesperson said on Tuesday, was completed Jan. 12. The Royal Alex is no longer host to the program, but has separate, similar supports still running, the PCA added.

Obst said those supports are now 12-hour day shifts, seven days a week instead of 24/7.

“We’ve been able to work collaboratively with the government to continue to have midwives on shift at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, providing the similar level of support that they once were, (just) not 24/7,” she said in an interview Tuesday.

“The shifts will now just be covered by either midwives who used to work for that in-house midwifery program or other community midwives who are able to do shift work in addition to their community caseload.”

The health agency said the midwives involved in the program that moved to Fort Saskatchewan were serving as an “additional support resource for community midwives.”

“We are currently working with the Alberta Association of Midwives to look at sustainable ways to support the midwifery workforce,” it said.

Obst said the current focus of the association was to highlight the need for increased workplace positions across the province as well as increased privileges for midwives in Alberta hospitals.

There are 56 active registered midwives in Edmonton. The PCA said the number of midwives in the Edmonton area has increased by 40 per cent in the last four years.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Alex Antoneshyn