File photo of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital maternity clinic. (CHAT News photo)

By Alex McCuaig

Closing in April

Smaller budget, larger expectations behind maternity clinic decision, says PCN director

Oct 19, 2020 | 5:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The executive director of the Palliser Primary Care Network says its decision to stop funding the city maternity clinic was due to stagnant budget increases and increased expectations from the organization.

It was announced last week that the clinic would stop accepting new patients after 17 years at the end of the month prior to closing in April.

The clinic provides regular testing and assessment of pregnant mothers on an increasing frequency as the birth date draws near – especially to mothers who do not have a family doctor or whose physician does not provide pre-natal services.

In a statement from Alberta Health Services last week, it said the decision to stop funding was one made by the Palliser Primary Care Network (PCN). However, the organization is a partnership between AHS and local doctors with the board being made up of members of both AHS and physicians.

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Treena Klassen said the decision came down to what services the organization could afford to fund due to budgetary pressures.

“One of them is we haven’t had a per capita increase in our funding since 2012 and then we’ve had increased responsibilities and accountabilities in our objectives set by the government,” said Klassen. “The pie didn’t get any bigger, just the expectations of what we would do with that pie got bigger. So we had to cut it up differently.”

One of those responsibilities which makes up a large portion of what the PCN spends its $6.5 million budget on is mental health supports in the community.

Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Glasgo says the decision to shutter the clinic needs to be reviewed.

“If this is a cost-saving expedition that they are endeavouring on, it actually needs to be a cost savings,” says Glasgo. “But this can’t come at the cost of expectant mothers and their families. I would like to see a fulsome review. I would like to see our government ensuring we have that equitable access.”

Ken Sauer has been sitting on the various incarnations of health boards in the region for the last 20 years until this spring.

He says the clinic was an innovative solution to deal with the situation faced by family doctors in which multiple physicians would be on-call to deliver newborns 24/7 and reduced it to one.

“This meant the eight or nine physicians could be there taking turns once a week and the other eight could rest and be ready and anxious to deal with their patients the next day. It really served to be a great opportunity for mothers to be ensured that they were getting the service they needed,” said Sauer.

Sauer says if money is to be saved, a more precise manner of looking at spending within the health system should be considered rather than doing away a service that is essential for many families.

Klassen and Glasgo are both hopeful a solution can be found to save the clinic.