Holiday health care: N.B. ERs leaving patients out in the cold

A major Moncton walk-in clinic is closing Friday.

The Trinity walk-in clinic at the local Superstore will now only be accepting pap-smears and wart clinics, according to its social media page.

"Oftentimes, those without access to primary care are trying to get care through those walk-in clinics,” said Rob McKee, N.B. Liberal health critic and MLA for Moncton Centre.

“This one being a major one in the city is just putting more stress on the ER system that we see already in a state of crisis,” McKee said.

The walk-in clinic announced that Friday would be their last day for that service indefinitely.

"The loss of access for health care to any patients, whether it be a walk-in clinic, a primary care provider or whatever the case may be -- this is troubling,” said Dr. Mark MacMillan, former president of the New Brunswick Medical Society. “What we need to do is continue to focus on other options. Moving forward, there's still 811, there are other walk-in clinics available.”

With the walk-in clinic closed, more patients will be heading to emergency rooms. But over the next few days, three hospitals in the province are also closed due to lack of doctors.

Oromocto Public Hospital is closed between Saturday and Monday, while Sackville Hospital is closed Saturday, Sunday, and New Year’s Day.

The Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital emergency room in Kent is closed Friday though Sunday.

"One of the ER's, which is shutting down, did not operate in the evenings during its regular schedule so some of those patients who are sick right now would already be going to the emergency department anyways,” said MacMillan. “But there is a risk of increased patient demands on other ER departments,” he said.

The Department of Health said in a statement: “It’s unfortunate to hear of the closing of the Trinity Medical Clinic.”

"There's different ways that they can address the problem. We've been talking about multi-disciplinary care centres,” McKee said. “We could take existing resources now and reorganize them in collaborative types of practices.”

The Minister of Health, nor Trinity Clinic could be reached for comment at the time of publishing.