The Health and Social Services Authority has announced that there will be an extension to the current suspension of labour and delivery services at the Inuvik Regional Hospital.
This extension will be running until at least October 15th. During this time, patients who were planning on giving birth in Inuvik and are at least 36 weeks along in their pregnancy will be contacted and have their care transferred to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife.
Pre-and-post natal care assessments will continue at IRH, and anyone in Inuvik who is pregnant and needs an assessment or goes into labour is asked to contact the IRH emergency department.
The reason for this service reduction is the ongoing lack of qualified obstetric nursing staff. The NTHSSA is continuing their efforts to recruit new staff, and service reductions will continue if these shortages persist.
All patients who will be impacted by any possible service reductions will be contacted as soon as possible.