Peterborough needs more walk-in clinics

With a population of more than 81,000 people, Peterborough is in urgent need of more permanent urgent care/walk-in clinics. They need to be open weeknights and weekends. Newcastle, a town of just over 9,000 people, has a fully service urgent care clinic and Bowmanville, a town of 40,000 people, has two or more urgent care clinics with hours that benefit working people.

According to People Without Doctors, the Ministry of the Health deemed the city fully serviced in the spring of 2015 and put a freeze on doctors. Everyone knows this is ridiculous and unfair to the thousands of people who do not have family physicians. Even if every person in Peterborough had access to a family physician, that doesn’t negate the need for urgent care centre. Doctors do not generally work evenings and weekends. It is also very common to wait weeks for an appointment.

Urgen care is not ideal care but it’s still care. People desparately need these centres as Bowmanville’s urgent care facilities are being used by residents of Peterborough on a regular basis. We should not have to drive up to an hour to receive health care. It’s not only dangerous but totally unacceptable.

We need permanent solutions, not temporary ones. The people of Peterborough are severely underserviced and deserve nothing less.

Sandra Purrott, Peterborough