Labour & Delivery: Temporary weekend service changes

Instructions for expectant moms can be found here.
More information including Q&As can be found
here.


A nation-wide shortage of operating room (OR) nurses is affecting recruitment efforts underway to fill vacant positions at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

Until this is resolved, we are not able to support the on-call surgical staffing that is required for obstetrical care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

We fully support the government’s commitment to our community to keep all our services at WLMH. For this reason, we are taking limited and temporary steps to redirect obstetrical care, and only on weekends. The service will resume at WLMH as we are able to add staff to cover the on-call shifts.

All other services continue as usual, including 24/7 Emergency Department.

This primarily affects women who are expecting to deliver babies at WLMH. Women who go into labour from 3 pm Friday to 7 am Monday can deliver their babies at McMaster University Medical Centre or a hospital of their choice in the region.

The redirection is a safety measure, in the event that a woman requires a caesarian section or other post-birth surgery, which would be done in the Operating Room.