Website with walk-in clinic wait times works its way into Winnipeg

An online tool that tracks walk-in clinic wait times is taking off in Winnipeg.

Medimap is a website that shows the estimated length of time it should take to see a doctor at walk-in clinics across the city.

It was designed by business partners from Whiterock, B.C., two years ago, after experiences they had without family doctors of their own.

"It was really a result of the frustrations we've experienced as patients from calling around the clinics, going to a clinic and waiting for hours in the waiting room, or showing up and being turned away before the clinic was actually closed," said Blake Adam, co-founder of Medimap with Jonathan Clark.

"It really just seemed like a simple solution to a problem that's faced by so many people across the country every day."

Every half hour throughout the day, staff from participating clinics update the website medimap.ca with their estimated wait time for walk-in patients and with information like whether they're closing early, which is then posted online.

Already, 24 out of 59 walk-in clinics in Winnipeg are using the free service. 

In Whiterock, B.C., and Victoria, B.C., 100 per cent of the walk-in clinics use the site, and 585 clinics are using it across Canada.

"We're not really reinventing the wheel here," said Adam.

"You can already — as a patient — pick up the phone, Google the phone numbers for every clinic in your community and then call around and ask them, 'Hey, what's the wait rate?'

"We're just saving time for both parties in the process just by making that information available online."

Clinics seem to like it too. 

"The benefit for us is the patients are a little bit more aware," said Rebecca Hunt, who manages Viva Care Winnipeg and two other clinics that use the software.

"We get phone calls about wait times, those questions that are asked quite a bit. We don't have as many phone calls coming in if more patients are aware of the service," she added. 

Adam says the site also helps relieve some of the pressure on emergency departments and urgent care centres.  

"It's a real problem, people using the emergency department facilities unnecessarily, and that results in congestion in the emergency department," said Adam.

They've partnered with two hospitals in B.C. to put monitors up in the ER waiting rooms, with an airport-like display showing clinics that are open, taking patients, and what the wait times are there.

"That way people arriving at the ER are informed and can make a decision on whether they're at the right place and if they want to go somewhere else for access to care they have an idea of how long they'll be waiting," said Adam.

A WRHA spokesperson acknowledged that tools like Medimap are helpful in allowing the public access health services, but the most up-to-date listings for WRHA services can be found at myrightcare.ca.

The software is free for clinics to join, but additional features are available at a cost. Adam hopes the site continues to grow, but says money was never the motivating factor.

"It's a very simple solution we were surprised didn't exist, and could benefit a lot of people. That's where the desire to build it came from."