Fresh on the heels of a medical clinic on the Saanich/Victoria border shutting down, two other clinics will soon stop seeing walk-in patients.
The difference with the two Shoreline medical clinics – in Sidney and Brentwood – is that other help is on the way through Island Health to fill that gap.
The Shelbourne Medical Clinic announced recently that it would be closing at the end of March, leaving patients with few options.
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Shoreline announced recently in an email to patients that as of March 31, it would no longer be seeing walk-in patients. But Shoreline said that in the spring, Island Health is establishing a new service at the Peninsula Health Unit with the support of Shoreline and the South Island Primary Care Network.
Shoreline Medical Society, a charitable organization, was created in 2015 and had grown from five family physicians to 25 doctors and a nurse practitioner, as well as allied health care staff including nurses, a clinical pharmacist, a social worker, a mental health counsellor and support staff. It has a patient roster of nearly 17,000 people.
“Alas, during COVID, several walk-in clinics in our area closed their doors, overwhelmed by the challenges of meeting needs of patients without a family doctor seeking care,” said a message from Heather Edward, executive director of the society. “During this extremely challenging period, Shoreline stood strong, continuing to provide walk-in care with additional support of the Ministry of Health and the South Island Primary Care Network. Providing a walk-in service at Shoreline generated a demand that has made it difficult to continue to operate the service at our clinics. An overwhelming demand for services has led to unsatisfactory wait times resulting in frustrated patients, increased workload with multiple challenges and complications affecting the medical team and their patients.”
Shoreline said if you don’t have a family doctor, but have been seen at the walk-in clinic, its staff will follow-up on tests they have ordered and maintain the records of walk-in clinic patients.
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In addition to serving families, Shoreline runs a youth clinic and its physicians also provide support services to Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
“Further communication from Island Health on the new service will be communicated in the new year,” said Edward.
“The establishment of a new Island Health service represents an important proactive step towards maintaining health-care services for our community. In addition to providing a centralized access point, the new Island Health service will help relieve strains on Saanich Peninsula Hospital’s Emergency Department, which has also seen increasing numbers of patients seeking non-emergency care in recent years. The Island Health service will also allow Shoreline to stabilize and rebalance our clinics. When capacity allows, Shoreline hopes to attach patients with a Shoreline family doctor through the Health Connect Registry.”
