A clinic in Cape Breton for people who don’t have a family doctor is no longer accepting new patients.
A shortage of doctors in Cape Breton led to the opening of a so-called “orphan clinic” in Sydney in September.
Just months later, the doctors staffing the clinic say they can no longer keep up with the demand.
Stephanie MacPherson has been unable to find a family doctor since moving to Cape Breton more than a year ago.
"It's definitely disheartening and challenging. The added pressure that shouldn't be there because we're supposed to have access to health care," says MacPherson.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority defines capacity as when a clinic has reached the maximum number of patients it can safely treat.
"They will have to hold back on seeing new patients until they are happy that the care they are providing is appropriate," says Dr. Dale Miller, medical site lead for NSHA Eastern Zone.
Health officials say efforts to recruit doctors to Cape Breton are ongoing, but it isn’t easy.
"It's very hard to turn this around very quickly,” says Dr. Miller
"There is a walk in clinic that's not that far from the clinic that's handling the orphan patients. That becomes one of the options available. But I think the better news and for the long range, is that 10 new doctors have been recruited for Cape Breton and 10 more now are being sought for Cape Breton," says Provincial Health Minister Leo Glavine.
In the meantime, there is the potential pitfall of doctor burnout.
“The physicians who are providing the service, they are doing this in addition to their full-time practices. So they are getting exhausted," says Dr. Miller.
"I think that's just another added pressure for doctors and the health care system and for patients that are without,” says Stephanie MacPherson.
The Health Authority says the 'orphan clinic' may eventually accept new patients again, but didn’t say when that might happen.
With files from CTV’s Ryan MacDonald
