St. Paul’s Hospital Maternity Centre at Providence Health Care (PHC) is a family-centred facility where approximately 1,800 women from around the Lower Mainland choose to deliver their babies each year. Guided by the principle “How you want to be treated”, we provide comprehensive maternity and neonatal services for low-risk and high-risk mothers-to-be and newborns.

The Maternity Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital boasts the province’s only cardiac obstetrical and renal obstetrical programs, supporting pregnant women with cardiac and renal issues.  We are a level III maternity centre which means we can support some of the most complex pregnancies and mothers with co-existing medical issues. We also operate a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for babies who require intensive nursing observation and care.

All of our labour, delivery and postpartum (LDRP) rooms are private rooms, offering a relaxing, personal and non-institutional environment for birthing and postpartum care all in one room. All rooms have jacuzzi tubs, televisions, telephones and a sleeper chair for significant others. Our family-centred approach means that a partner or support person is encouraged to stay with the mother and baby to provide support through their hospital stay.

St. Paul's is a major teaching facility for obstetric physicians and nurses.

Our Facilities Include:

• 16 LDRP rooms, 4 postpartum caesarean section rooms, and 2 antepartum beds (for women who require hospitalization prior to birth), and a 2-bed assessment room
• Ambulatory Obstetrical Clinic
• Maternal-Fetal Medicine Clinic
• Maternal-Fetal Monitoring Unit
• 9-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
• Parents’ room to support breastfeeding when a baby is in the NICU to support the transition from NICU to home
• Breast-feeding/pumping room for NICU parents
• Varshney Family Lounge to further support families who have babies in the NICU
• Comfortable lounge for visiting families and children
• Central fetal surveillance and electronic chalkboard and computers in all patient rooms
• Hearing-screening program for all newborns

Our Interdisciplinary Team

In addition to our talented obstetricians, family physicians, midwives, pediatricians and nursing staff, the St. Paul’s Hospital Maternity Centre works in collaboration with the Coronary Care Unit (CCU), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Internal Medicine, Respiratory Therapy, Reproductive Psychology, Surgery, Renal, Eating Disorders, Infection Control, Occupational Health and Safety, and other critical service programs to deliver health care to meet the needs of our complex care patients. 

In conjunction with our Heart Centre, we treat and manage over 120 childbearing women annually who have congenital or acquired heart disease and need the services of an obstetrician and cardiologist.  

Nursing Excellence

What really sets us apart as an employer is the support we provide for nurses and allied health professionals. In addition to an extensive orientation for new employees, we have weekly interdisciplinary obstetrical rounds, and our Nursing Education Fund supports staff to participate in continuing education of their choice. Most recently, we are ensuring that 100 per cent of our staff have completed 18 hours of breastfeeding education and have initiated a program to encourage and support our staff to become Certified Lactation Consultants.

Clinical support includes a Clinical Nurse Leader, Clinical Nurse Educator and our newly developed Clinical Nurse Specialist who drives best practice. To assist in professional development, we have developed a Nursing Competency, Assessment, Planning, and Evaluation (CAPE) Tool to support competencies and to track individual learning and growth.

Our Registered Nurses are perinatally trained through the British Columbia Institute of Technology. This education is fully funded by Providence Health Care. The unit is lead by an Operations Leader who has a clinical background and St. Paul's Hospital also has a nursing council with representatives from each clinical area.

Our high patient satisfaction, impressive patient outcomes, and low staff turnover are the result of our true commitment to creating and sustaining a “quality practice environment.”