Windham Hospital announces plans to discontinue childbirth services
Windham — Windham Hospital will seek state approval to stop providing childbirth services.
The hospital, which has delivered 31 babies since January, plans to continue providing prenatal and postpartum care and has plans to enhance its women’s health services. It will provide expectant mothers with transportation to Backus Hospital in Norwich, which is 17 miles away, or to another hospital of the patient’s choosing for delivery.
In a statement Monday, Donna Handley, president of Hartford HealthCare’s East Region, which includes Windham and Backus hospitals, said the move has been years in the making.
“We have exhausted all other options,” she said. “We have worked hard to create a safe, innovative plan that provides the highest level of care for the mothers and babies we serve.”
Windham Hospital’s childbirth services are currently suspended. The hospital has notified the state Department of Public Health that it will soon file public notice of its plan to end the services as well as a Certificate of Need application with the state Office of Health Strategy.
Hospital staff are helping coordinate expectant mothers’ delivery at other hospitals.
According to Hartford HealthCare, Windham Hospital has been experiencing a steady decline in the number of births — from more than 400 in 2012 to a projected 93 this year. From Oct. 1, 2019, to March 31, the hospital had 45 births, the fewest of any hospital in the state. Over the same period, Backus had 462 births and Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London had 658.
Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven had the most births, 3,112, followed by Hartford Hospital, which had 1,967.
“Mothers are choosing to have their babies at hospitals that perform a greater number of births,” Handley said. “I understand and support the decision for mothers to choose what is best for themselves and their babies.”
Handley said she has shared the hospital’s plan with union representatives, hospital staff, legislators who represent the Windham region, state officials and many community leaders. She said the hospital will work with local medical providers to ensure that doctors, expectant mothers and their families are informed and know where to seek care.
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