Interior Health says full in-patient maternity services will resume at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake on Canada Day.

Maternity services were temporarily suspended at the end of February because of a critical shortage of maternity nurses, while low risk deliveries resumed on April 30.

Karen Bloemink, the VP of Clinical Operations for IH North says eight new nurses have been hired to fill the gaps.

“So this takes us to the baseline that we require to operate a full maternity service at Cariboo Memorial Hospital,” she said. “We are still using agency nurses to cover vacation and to make sure that we are able to be flexible in case we have unexpected absences.”

Bloemink says 42 expectant mothers delivered their babies at RIH during the time of the closure.

“So we are confident that we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that we have numbers of staff required to operate the service in Williams Lake,” Bloemink added.

“There is always a slight risk with any specialized group of health care providers but we feel that we have flexibility around the service to make sure that this service is reliable going forward.”

Bloemink says when service is fully restored on July 1, there will be a cohort of experienced nurses, along with newly trained maternity nurses who will be available to cover shifts.

Some mother who go into labour ahead of the 35 weeks gestation period may be transferred to a higher level of care facility, but CMH will be able to accommodate all other births.