Walk in clinics…will they remain
Walk in clinics are not in the clear, are not feeling stabilized and the Band-Aid plan isn't encouraging the development of more walk-in clinics.
Share with us - Do you have a walk in clinic in your community? Can you access it when you need to? Or, do you have to line up first thing in the morning for a hand full of spots?
Physician insights -
“Vernon is losing its last Walk in clinic. So it's the emerg or UPCC. I believe the operators of both WIC were trying to get supports from the health authority. Interesting, the UPCC would often send patients to the walk-in clinics for suturing or other complex assessments as they don't suture or do procedures. The budget for the UPCC could have paid for 5 walkin clinics. With the announcement of the closure of the WICs, the UPCC has got more funding to increase it's capacity. There is no end to the cycle of spending the NDP has come up with.”
“UPCCs have driven the closure of walk-in clinics whose income cannot compete with the health authority when hiring. Those few clinics that are struggling to continue to serve their population have been kept open by a couple payments of “emergency funding”, which is doled out six months or so at a time by the Ministry of Health. The government is dragging its heels on committing to sustainable funding for these clinics, which are ineligible for the LFP funding model announced last year. Everyone absolutely deserves a family doctor, but these physician-led clinics have long served the population of BC and are more important than ever in the family doctor shortage. If you have benefited from walk-in clinics in the past, or if you are struggling to access care due to lack of one, please write your MLA and the health minister about the importance of supporting physician-led walk-in clinics, not just UPCCs, and not with crisis payments, but sustainable funding that allows them to run a business, to hire staff and keep the lights on.”
“Patients think of walk in clinics as a solution for people without family docs. Family docs depend on the walk in clinics to cover our patients particularly for days we are unwell or unable to work. So now, without walk in clinics, the ability for family docs to be sustainable with any level of personal or professional growth will be gone.”
