The CEO of NL Health Services says no pediatric beds will be lost with the planned move of gynecology services from the Health Sciences Centre to the Janeway.

NLHS is in the very early planning stages of moving adult gynecology into space at the Janeway as it looks at more efficient ways to increase available beds.

Dr. Pat Parfrey told reporters today that the Janeway is operating well below capacity – never above 80 per cent – and they’re looking at space in an underused wing that was previously a community clinic.

“We’ve got approximately 30 patients that are in corridors every day that are waiting to be admitted to the Health Sciences Centre. That has a direct effect on getting people in from other hospitals across the province. At the other end of it, we’ve got space that’s occupied by a community clinic. So our feeling is that we should investigate trying to improve the capacity of the Health Sciences Centre by moving the gynecology unit to the Janeway Clinic.”

Last week, the nurses union claimed the impacts of moving adult gynecology would be “devastating” for women’s health. RNU President Yvette Coffey says part of the plan will see critical care services moved to the new facility slated for Kenmount Road, meaning a patient who experiences a gynecological emergency, including hemorrhaging, will have to travel to the new site at a time when seconds count.

Parfrey says it’s too early to say if, or when critical care services will move to the new health care facility.