The Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., provides primary and specialty care to around 60,000 of the Algoma district’s 114,000 residents.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
A major health provider in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. that is being forced to deroster 10,000 patients has announced it is opening a nurse practitioner-led clinic next week with the support of provincial funding, enabling the provision of temporary care to the affected individuals.
The Group Health Centre, which provides primary and specialty care to around 60,000 of the Algoma district’s 114,000 residents, had announced in January that it would be cutting off access to many of them because of a shortage of family doctors. The change is effective May 31.
The GHC’s leadership had been asking the province for several months for new funding to address its primary care crisis – the worst in its decades-long history. On Wednesday, Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano announced $2.8-million in funding for the centre’s new GHC Access Care Clinic and other initiatives to connect people in Northern Ontario to primary care.
“While not a replacement for primary care providers, the clinic services will act as a bridge to provide essential care management as we continue to work to attract more providers to join our team,” wrote Lil Silvano, president and chief executive officer of the GHC, in a letter to community residents.
Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail published an in-depth account on the challenges facing the GHC, which opened as the first union-sponsored clinic of its kind in Canada in 1963, and its patients. The situation unfolding in Sault Ste. Marie mirrors a trend occurring across Canada, with millions struggling to get primary care, which leads to worse health outcomes and added strain on other parts of the system, notably the emergency room.
On the new provincial funding, Mr. Romano said in a news release that “this is not one single measure, but the combination of several initiatives. This is the product of months of dedication, diligence and strong teamwork.”
In an interview, Ms. Silvano said the centre plans on doing a soft launch of its new clinic on Monday, and hopes to have four nurse practitioners working to provide care for patients who need it. The new clinic will operate in a similar fashion to GHC’s existing same-day clinic, which allows rostered patients with more urgent needs to get an immediate appointment.
But the clinic isn’t a substitute for the type of continuing care that primary care practitioners provide, which means the centre will stay focused on recruiting more health care workers so they can eventually bring all affected patients back onto its full-time roster, Ms. Silvano said.
She said the ultimate goal is for health professionals to work more efficiently as a team, such as by changing the existing rules, under which only doctors can bill OHIP. Jodie Stewart, CEO of the Algoma District Medical Group, said the current system places doctors at the top of a hierarchy, when in reality, all team members should be used to their full capacity to handle patient concerns.
The new clinic will serve around 7,000 of the affected de-rostered patients. Two GHC physicians who recently left the centre to start their own standalone clinic announced earlier this month they will bring their 3,000 patients with them.
Ms. Silvano added that some of the funding from the province will be used to train new nurse practitioners. Ontario has a “grow your own nurse practitioner” initiative that provides funding so that health care organizations can pay salaries to nurses who want to upgrade their skills. The funding makes it easier for registered nurses to take on the new role of nurse practictioner, said Giordan Zin, the GHC’s spokesperson.
“There’s a lot of talented RNs that would love to become an NP,” Mr. Zin said. “The prospect of leaving your job to go back to school full time isn’t really realistic.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Group Health Centre announced on Friday, May 24 that it would be cutting off access to many residence due to a shortage of family doctors. The announcement was made in January, and the change became effective on Friday, May 31. This version has been updated.