Winnipeggers urged to use walk-in clinics to ease wait times in ERs
With people waiting hours to get care in Winnipeg's emergency and urgent care departments, the health region's top doctor is urging people to consider visiting walk-in clinics instead.
"Wait times are a really complicated issue, and we got a lot of things that we need to be working on at the same time to address them," Dr. Joss Reimer, the chief medical officer of health for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, told CTV Morning Live's Nicole Dube.
Reimer said staffing vacancies is one of the biggest issues.
"Our staff are fantastic, they are working so hard. They are really committed to providing the best care to Manitobans, but when you don't have enough of somebody anywhere is going suffer, and we are seeing that across the country with wait times being longer everywhere in Canada."
Reimer said the WRHA is expanding the hours at all five of the Winnipeg Walk-In Connected Care Clinics by Nov. 1, and is calling on Winnipeggers to head there if they don't need urgent or emergency care.
Hours at the clinics will be expanded to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
Reimer said right now, about 40 per cent of people who visit an ER or urgent care centre could be getting their care at a walk-in clinic.
"Even if we could get a quarter or half of those folks moving – just the better experience they would have," she said.
To help people know where to go to get care, the WRHA has launched the My Right Care website. The website includes the average wait times for clinics, what you should consider going there for, who will provide care, and what the hours are.
"We want people to be thinking about that website when they need care that maybe doesn't need something like an emergency room."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.