VERNON, B.C. – There’s been another blow to Vernon residents without a family doctor. As one walk-in clinic in the city prepares to close in a matter of months, another has clawed back its hours. One advocacy group believes the impact could be felt as far away as Kelowna.
Instead of staying open until 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, Vernon’s Gartree Medical Clinic will officially be closing at 1:00 p.m. Gartree says the shorter hours are due to a doctor departing. Vernon’s mayor is concerned but sympathetic.
Gartree’s new shorter schedule comes on the heels of news another Vernon walk-in will be shutting for good. The Vernon Family Doctors Medical Clinic is closing in March because it is having trouble maintaining a full staff.
Mike McLoughlin speaks for the advocacy group Walk-In Clinics of B.C. and manages a clinic in Kelowna. He believes the impact could be felt elsewhere in the Okanagan.
“There was a clinic that closed in Kamloops a couple years ago. That reduced the capacity in Kamloops to see walk-in patients, which actually caused a knock-on effect and patients that were looking for care in Kamloops actually started ending up in the Vernon clinics,” says McLoughlin.
“Now that Vernon clinics are reducing their hours and one of the Vernon clinics is closing that will have another effect and we may even see patients here in Kelowna from clinics in Kamloops and Vernon.”
The local hospital is expecting to feel the impact of the shorter clinic hours.
“We expect that there may be an increase in activity in the Vernon Jubilee Hospital emergency department, but as always, we are prepared to care for the patients who attend the hospital. The public is reminded that individuals are assessed and treated based on the urgency of their needs,” says Richard Harding, Vernon Jubilee Hospital’s health services administrator, in a written statement.
Meanwhile, B.C.’s Health Ministry says it is up to doctors to set walk-in clinic hours.
“Walk-in clinics are all private practices, and the physicians who run them are free to set the hours that they choose. That said, we do recognize that any change in service could have an impact on patients, and that is why we are working to increase access to primary care across the province – including in Vernon and Interior Health,” wrote a ministry spokesperson in a statement.
There may be some good news for patients on the horizon. Vernon’s mayor believes another clinic is in the works.
“The doctors are getting together to reopen another clinic. I don’t know when that will happen but I’m pretty sure it will probably be sometime this year,” says Mund.
No one from Gartree was available for an on-camera interview Monday. The Vernon Family Doctors Medical Clinic is set to close March 19.
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