Doctor shortage being felt at local walk-in clinic

A doctor shortage is being felt in all parts of Nova Scotia, and Pictou County is no exception.

As of Dec. 1, 7,639 people in the Northern Zone of the Nova Scotia Health Authority did not have a family doctor. The Northern Zone includes, Pictou, Cumberland and Colchester counties. The statistics, which were released by the Nova Scotia Health Authority, indicate a 4.3 per cent increase from Nov. 1, 2018, in the number of people who have not been placed with a family doctor.

At the Aberdeen Walk-In Clinic, the ongoing crisis can be felt.

“We have noticed an increase in percentage of people without family doctors,” said Dr. Chris Elliott, who co-owns the clinic with Dr. Tom Park.

“These people don’t have anywhere else to go,” he said. “They’re orphan patients.”

Elliott said a longtime doctor in the area retired in November and another is expected to in the first quarter of 2019, but no one has replaced them. To top it off, concerns that forced the walkin clinic to temporarily suspend operations for six weeks in August and September 2018 remain.

Despite the province saying it would listen to concerns doctors had about the pay structure for walk-in clinics, which impacts their recruitment efforts, Elliott said that nothing has changed.

He has argued that since the New Glasgow walk-in is providing comprehensive care for many patients, doctors who work there should be compensated for it under the enhanced-fee pay structure offered to other doctors. Instead, doctors are paid more to see patients in their office than at the clinic, which takes away the incentive to work there.

Since reopening in September, the Aberdeen Walk-in Clinic has been primarily operating three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. They have four doctors who work there now, but one had to take some time off recently due to their own health concerns. Thankfully, Elliott said one of the other doctors was able to take his shift. But the load these doctors are carrying in addition to their own practices makes it difficult.

Elliott is in his 45th year of practicing medicine and while he’s not contemplating retirement in the immediate future, it isn’t a distant thought for him. Still, he hopes to keep the walk-in operating as long as possible.

While Elliott feels like there is little hope for change, Pictou Centre MLA Pat Dunn said he doesn’t see how something can’t be done to address the concerns.

Dunn, whose family doctor is Dr. Park, said it doesn’t make any sense to him that the province doesn’t recognize the significant role the walk-in in New Glasgow is providing for people in Pictou County.

“I know for a fact that what they do at the clinic is the same as they do at the office,” Dunn said, noting how they do follow ups and referrals. “It’s the very same treatment as you’d get as if you were sitting in their office.”

He believes the province needs to recognize that not all walk-in clinics are the same and compensate them accordingly.

“I think with almost half of our provincial budget placed in the health-care table we should be able to have the funds to accommodate them in the clinic in New Glasgow.”

He fears what would happen if the clinic were to close.

“We would be hurting and the emergency room would be overflowing,” he said. “It would be a crisis situation.”