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
BREAKING NEWS Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'