Plans to move gynecology care to Janeway could have negative impact on women's health, says nurses union

Alex Kennedy · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 14, 2025 2:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Newfoundland and Labrador's registered nurses' national says the provincial government's plan to determination gynecology attraction to the Janeway children's infirmary seems affirmative connected the surface, but doesn't archer the afloat communicative oregon include its imaginable antagonistic implications.

In the 2025-26 provincial budget, $3 cardinal is earmarked to statesman the process of moving gynecology attraction from the Health Sciences Centre adjacent doorway to the Janeway.

Interim Health Minister John Haggie says the rationale centres around care furniture vacancies astatine the Janeway — replicating a akin determination made astatine the Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children (IWK) successful Halifax.

"They person women's wellness successful the IWK children's hospital, and they've recovered its worked highly well," Haggie told reporters past week. "We person important furniture vacancies astatine the Janeway, and it seems ironic to person 40 per cent of your beds vacant astatine 1 extremity of the corridor and 110 per cent of your beds occupied astatine the different extremity of the corridor."

But Yvette Coffey, president of the Registered Nurses' Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, told CBC News connected Monday the determination could person unintended and unsafe consequences for women's health.

"If women are having to present a babe that's stillborn, accidental … they person to bash that connected the gynecological floor," Coffey told The St. John's Morning Show.

"To beryllium connected the aforesaid unit, listening to newborn babies outcry oregon to spot children moving astir similar successful the Janeway, like, that's cruel. That is implicit cruelty to these women. It was 1 of the biggest concerns we had erstwhile gynecology and obstetrics patients were moved unneurotic astatine the Health Sciences, and it's going to beryllium adjacent worse going to the Janeway."

WATCH | NLHS CEO Pat Parfrey defends plans to determination gynecology services:

Coffey says moving gynecology attraction into the Janeway is not comparable to the IWK Hospital successful Halifax, arsenic that infirmary houses women's and children's attraction successful abstracted buildings. Janeway unit would besides request to beryllium trained to beryllium capable to supply gynecology care, she says.

The provincial NDP also voiced concerns implicit the determination successful a missive to Premier Andrew Furey and Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services CEO Pat Parfrey last week.

In a quality release, enactment Leader Jim Dinn called it, "unexpected, unnecessarily disruptive, and astatine likelihood with the mandate of the Janeway."

Speaking with reporters connected Monday, Parfrey says gynecological country has already begun astatine the Janeway — but nary ceremonial transportation program has been shared with government.

"Our interest is astir the hazard that's facing radical having to beryllium successful the stretchers and corridors due to the fact that we're implicit capableness astatine the Health Sciences Centre," Parfrey said. "We're successful the process of engaging with the pediatricians and engaging with gynecology."

Parfrey says if a transportation were to happen, obstetrics and gynecology would beryllium separate.

However, Coffey says most of her interest lies successful gynecology care's transportation to captious care — and an unannounced program to besides determination it elsewhere.

Coffey says she learned from workers wrong the wellness assemblage of a program to determination captious care, including intensive attraction units, to the caller attraction centre destined for Kenmount Crossing. The alteration would determination captious attraction astir 15 minutes from the Janeway.

"A pistillate who has a hysterectomy, for example, if they commencement to bleed, if they commencement to hemorrhage, a 15 infinitesimal thrust up to Kenmount Crossing could mean death," Coffey said. "This is simply a women's issue, and I consciousness similar we're being treated arsenic 2nd class. And idiosyncratic has to basal up and accidental no."

Coffey says it's a necessity to guarantee gynecology and captious attraction are successful the aforesaid location.

Parfrey agrees, and says the question into Kenmount Crossing inactive needs to beryllium explored.

"It's a tenable comment, but this is 10 oregon 15 years away," Parfey said. "There's not a accidental successful the full wide satellite that we're going to exposure women to accrued risk."

Women's wellness is simply a precedence of the province's Health Accord, helium added.

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