Maternal clinic to open at Norfolk General Hospital

Labour and delivery services are slowly starting up again at Simcoe’s only hospital.

Staff at Norfolk General Hospital (NGH) announced they have opened a maternal clinic. It will provide services such as parental visits, RhoGAM injections, newborn wellness checks and urgent pregnancy assessments including non-stress tests to evaluate a baby’s health before birth.

The clinic will be located in the labour and delivery unit on 3B and NGH says there are plans for it to eventually operate five days a week, ultimately integrating it into a 24/7 fully re-opened labour and delivery program.

Initially, the clinic will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be available to women with or without a primary care provider.

“By opening this clinic, NGH will return to offering prenatal care to women close to home, something so important to Norfolk General Hospital’s staff and our local community,” said Dr. Jamie Szabo, Chief of Obstetrics, in a statement. “There are so many members of our community who don’t have access to primary care, to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, or someone to go to when they find out they are pregnant. Norfolk General Hospital and the labour and delivery unit are here for the whole community – it’s open to everyone. We hope that this clinic will also help support our emergency department, increasing local health services, which we know improves health outcomes, always our goal at NGH.”

Previously, NGH temporarily transitioned obstetrical care to the Brant Community Health Care System in 2021, due in part to a nursing shortage.