B.C. midwives say they can help improve health-care system, want more support

Midwives in B.C. say their profession could be doing more to help solve the health-care crisis and want more support from the province, as some patients wait months for maternity care.

Midwives in B.C. say their profession could be doing more to help solve the health-care crisis and want more support from the province, as some patients wait months for maternity care.

“The demand is definitely growing,” says Midwives Association of B.C. board member Tobi Reid.

“I’ve been speaking with people who are five, six months along and still haven’t been able to get in with a primary care provider and that’s a huge safety issue," adds Reid. “One of them told me that she had to present to the emergency room just to get basic pre-natal bloodwork done."

The midwife has been practicing in Victoria since February 2022. She and others working on her team are on call seven days a week, at all hours of the day, excluding every other weekend.

“It’s definitely a hard job,” says Reid. “Midwives and physicians are burning out and leaving clinical practice for many of the same reasons.”

The Midwives Association of B.C. says the struggle some families are facing finding and accessing maternity care is reflective of the primary care crisis on a larger scale.

“We’re working for more midwives, increased training opportunities for midwives. We believe they play a central role in health care,” says Health Minister Adrian Dix.