In-patient maternity services at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake will be temporarily suspended at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.
Interior Health is asking a small number of mothers with deliveries anticipated between May 30th to June 3rd to relocate to Kamloops and plan for their deliveries at Royal Inland Hospital.
The disruption in service is due to a lack of trained maternity nurses during that 4-day period.
Maternity services were temporarily suspended at Cariboo Memorial Hospital at the end of February due to an unexpected critical shortage of maternity nurses.
Low-risk deliveries resumed April 30th with a clarification that staffing challenges could still result in temporary interruptions until full staffing is in place.
Low-risk delivery services will resume again on June third at 7:30 pm.
Interior Health said in addition to the recent hiring of two new maternity nurses for Cariboo Memorial Hospital in April, one new maternity nurse will start in June and five CMH nurses are currently being trained in full-scope maternity care and are expected to be ready to support Cariboo area patients in July.
Maternity nurses from other areas of Interior Health are coming to Williams Lake to support local patients.