Commonwealth Health's Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) General Hospital will no longer provide planned inpatient labor and delivery services, effective July 31.
Nurses and other employees who staff the OB unit and clinics will be able to apply for other open positions within the health system. The hospital will continue to provide gynecological services and surgeries.
Hospital leaders said they will work with obstetricians to support the transition of patients' non-emergent deliveries to another hospital, according to a May 31 news release. Other hospitals in the region providing childbirth services include Geisinger Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre, and Moses Taylor Hospital and Geisinger Community Medical Center, both located in Scranton, Pa.
"This has been a very difficult decision. However, fewer births are occurring at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and within the local market and this coincides with the increasing average age of our local population," Wilkes-Barre General Hospital CEO Simon Ratliff said.
Commonwealth said Wilkes-Barre General Hospital saw a 50 percent decrease in deliveries in recent years and fewer deliveries are projected this year.
"We will continue applying our resources on the clinical services that are increasingly utilized by our community such as orthopedics, cardiology, urology and bariatric surgery," Mr. Ratliff said. "Our recruitment of skilled specialist physicians to join our medical staff and investments for these vital services means more patients have been able to stay in the Wyoming Valley for their care."