WATCH: People without a family doctor may now have problems getting into a walk-in clinic. John Hua explains why the new rules are making their personal health care crisis even worse.
A walk-in clinic telling patients to walk out.
It sounds paradoxical.
But that’s what’s happening at the Hilltop Medical Clinic in Surrey.
“As a clinic, we felt we wouldn’t be able to provide the care, the longitudinal care for new patients,” explained Dr. Chris Liemand, their medical director.
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At issues are new rules put in place by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. Before, if someone wanted a walk-clinic to be their “medical home of record”, they needed to visit and receive care three times.
Now, it just requires one visit. And that, says Liemand, is too onerous for them. Unless patients have a regular family doctor, they won’t be admitted.
“Currently we have 14 physicians in the clinic, servicing about 2,000 patients per doctor. It equates to about 28,000 patients.
The new rules have been put in place to help the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians without a family doctor find one. The government promised in 2010 that every person in the province who wanted a family doctor would be able to have one by 2015 – but they now admit that promise is unlikely to be met.
READ MORE: Government admits family doctor promise unlikely to be met
In a statement, Minister of Health Terry Lake said “If specific walk-in clinics are concerned with the college guidelines, that needs to be addressed with the college, rather than putting patients in the middle.”
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