'Staffing challenges' force Fort Saskatchewan hospital to suspend labour and delivery services

File. (Alberta Health Services)

The Fort Saskatchewan Community Hospital is suspending labour and delivery services, citing “staffing challenges,” Alberta Health Services said Friday.

The suspension is temporary, and the hospital remains open for urgent and emergent care.

AHS advises pregnant patients who planned on delivering at the hospital to contact their midwife or physician to adjust their birth plan to deliver at the Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert.

The health authority says pregnant patients requiring non-emergency medical care continue to be encouraged to call their family physician or obstetrician.

The hospital’s labour and delivery unit reopened last March after having to close for three months to make room for COVID-19 patients.