Health authority shutting down one of Winnipeg's QuickCare clinics
Clinics are staffed by registered nurses and nurse practitioners who diagnose, treat minor ailments
The doors are being shut at one of Winnipeg's QuickCare clinics.
The lease for the clinic on St. Mary's Road will expire at the end of January and not be renewed, the Progressive Conservative government said on Friday. The clinic's last day will be Jan. 27.
Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said a lack of staffing has been an issue at the city's six QuickCare clinics, resulting in rotating closures.
"You wouldn't go to a restaurant if it was closed 30 per cent of the time. People don't want to go to a QuickCare Clinic if it's closed when it shouldn't be closed," he said.
Goertzen said staff at the St. Mary's Road clinic will be re-deployed to the other ones.
The clinics were a project of the previous NDP provincial government.
They are staffed by registered nurses and nurse practitioners who diagnose and treat minor health issues, helping people avoid unnecessary trips to an emergency room and freeing up doctors from dealing with those ailments.
"This shift will help address the rotating closures at Winnipeg QuickCare clinics that resulted from challenges related to staff vacancies and provide all community residents a reliable, non-urgent health service outside of regular clinic hours," states a release from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
The clinics were supposed to ease wait times at emergency rooms but Manitoba still has the longest wait times in the country, Goertzen said, adding that all other QuickCare clinics are also being reviewed.
"It has been clear for some time that a change needed to be made in order to best serve Winnipeggers accessing QuickCare clinics," said Jeanette Edwards, regional director of primary health care for the WRHA.
"It has been challenging to recruit sufficient numbers of nurse practitioners to staff six clinics which has resulted in closures and inconsistency of access. When the lease [for the St. Mary's Road location] came up for renewal the decision to move towards closing this location now was practical from a property management perspective."
Edwards said the closure well help stabilize the QuickCare clinic system, allowing the remaining clinics to provide service 365 days a year. She added that the closure will not result in immediate savings, but the WRHA will avoid costs by not having to pay for the lease.
"Winnipeggers can count on the five sites being open and will have much more readily accessible service at that time," she said.
