Dartmouth woman says more walk-in clinics should be a priority after closures

A woman in Dartmouth, N.S., is raising concerns about the lack of walk-in clinics in the area, after discovering that there appears to be only one location open and it's operating at reduced hours and capacity.

Mariette Emond went to the Dartmouth Family Focus Medical Clinic on Baker Drive last Thursday around 7 a.m. AT, expecting it to open at 8:30 a.m. But that was not the case.

She soon discovered the clinic is operating at reduced hours, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. four days a week. She said she was told two shifts had been cut, and the clinic could only accommodate about 15 people a day.

"I elected to stick around rather than lose my spot, and I finally got in to see a doctor at about 2 p.m., so it was a bit of a wait, but I'm sure it was a shorter wait than it would be if I'd gone to the [emergency room]," Emond told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax on Monday.

"So I count myself lucky that way. But it just doesn't seem right that they're down to 15 people a day for all of Dartmouth in terms of the walk-in clinics."

Emond pointed to several clinics that have closed in recent years, including the one on Portland Street and Tacoma Family Medicine, which announced its closure in April.

She said having at least two walk-in clinics in the area should be a priority because there aren't many options for people who need immediate care.

Emond said she went to the clinic for treatment of a urinary tract infection, a condition the pharmacies in her area don't provide assessment for. It would've taken her at least a week and a half to see her family doctor, she said.

And not everyone has that option, she said.

"I see a lot of the disenfranchised people at the walk-in clinics, a lot of new immigrants and other folks without doctors and they don't have an option," Emond said. "They have to wait. And if there are only 15 people allowed, they have to come back the next day and do the wait all over again."

CBC News contacted Nova Scotia Health, which said it doesn't manage walk-in clinics as they are privately run.

'Family physicians are feeling the burden'

Dr. Gehad Gobran, president of Doctors Nova Scotia, acknowledged the lack of walk-in clinics, but he noted that they're often run by family physicians who are already stretched thin with their own practice.

"It is a big responsibility and family physicians are feeling the burden," Gobran told Mainstreet.

He said every Nova Scotian deserves to have a family physician, but to achieve that it's important to focus on retaining doctors and recruiting new ones.

He said improving working conditions and reducing administrative burdens will be key to improving access for patients.

"The core of medicine here in Nova Scotia really is a family physician. We still need more family physicians and we know that."

The latest numbers posted on Nova Scotia's Need A Family Practice Registry show 160,234 people are on it as of June 1.

Gobran said the province is working with Nova Scotia Health to open more walk-in clinics on weekends. He said people can also access some health services at pharmacies. 

The association has also encouraged physicians to have urgent spots available for their patients each day, he said.

"Trust me, every family physician is doing their best to extend their hours now because we feel our patients' suffering and we try our best. It will come. It's just [a] hard time."

More physicians moving to family medicine

Colin Stevenson, the chief of system integration for the Department of Health and Wellness, said as the province tries to improve working conditions for doctors, many are choosing to pursue family medicine, which could be taking away from walk-in care models.

"[Family medicine] supports them for attachment and it supports them to kind of create access for patients. So will that maybe draw people away from an episodic urgent primary care type of a model such as a walk-in clinic?" Stevenson told Mainstreet on Wednesday.

"It could. That could have an impact … we want more people sort of focused on taking attachment."

However, Stevenson said there are some other options for people who need urgent primary care if they don't have a family doctor and can't access a walk-in clinic.

He said Nova Scotians can access some basic care at pharmacies and through the Virtual Care Nova Scotia platform.

Stevenson said mobile primary care clinics have also been set up in areas of need around the province.

Still, he said these services are only a part of the health-care system and they're not permanent solutions.

"We need to remember that our main focus is always trying to build and sustain collaborative family practices, that health-home model where we actually have infrastructure and providers, so physicians, nurse practitioners, other allied health and support care providers, working together in an environment to support that population in its entirety."