After-hour clinics closures spark concern in Moncton

A sign on Dr. Louis Bourque’s clinic says its closure is temporary, but according to its social media, it hasn’t been open since June 17.

That marks at least four after hour health clinics in the Moncton, N.B., area that have been closed for months, either indefinitely or for an undetermined amount of time.

“We are struggling with clinics right now, after hour clinics, we can’t even contact them. Most of them they say call when we’re opening in the morning, you call in the morning and can’t even get through,” said New Brunswick health-care advocate, Julie Leger.

“You can call like 100 times on redial and hoping you’ll get through that one time, but then you’ll get the message ‘call back the next morning as we’re booked up for the whole day.’”

The New Brunswick Health Department told CTV News on Friday that the Department of Health does not have a direct role in the operation of medical after-hours clinics and that the department is helping New Brunswickers access services through NB Health Link.

Adding, “for the 2022-23 fiscal year, the department welcomed 119 doctors to the province, while seeing 105 leave their positions, for a net gain of 14 physicians,” said a representative.

However, Leger says she’s still hearing that New Brunswickers are struggling to secure a family doctor.

“There’s people that just this week received letters from their nurse practioners that they’re letting go,” she said.

“They had family doctors and they were luckily happy to have their nurse practioners happy to take over some of the patient load that that doctor would have had and now they’re leaving also.”

Friday morning, Green Party Health Critic Megan Mitton questioned the provincial government on its plan for more team based community health clinics.

“It’s actually a recruitment and retention tool as well because there are many doctors and nurse practitioners who would prefer to work in a team based setting rather than having a solo practice. That’s the way things are going in Medicine, unfortunately New Brunswick is often trailing behind,” said Mitton.

She adds that she specifically asked about the Tantramar area since it is facing a critical doctor shortage, but she says it needs to be seen across the entire province.

“I feel that the Higgs government is trying to push a lot of the online access to health care and I do think that there is a roll for that, it is privatized even though Medicare is covering the fees and then what I’m also seeing though is that there’s not really an ambitious plan to make sure that there’s access to health care across the province,” she said.

Among the options that the province says is available to residents is e-visit, which provides virtual primary care services from doctors and nurse practitioners and Tele-Care, where 811 nurses triage symptoms and provide recommendations.

However, health-care advocates want hands-on solutions.

“We need some leadership, we need some ambitious goals and we need to be listening to what the doctors and nurses and all the health-care professionals are telling us,” said Mitton.

Leger added, “it’s the government that needs to focus on these things and the health minster to come together and talk at the table and say listen we’re having an issue and crisis here, what can we do as hands on helping these people more and let’s forget about virtual care, I’m sorry, but virtual care will not fix the whole issue.”

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