By Seth DuChene
Editor
A pilot project designed to take the pressure off of the Lennox and Addington County General Hospital emergency room as well as provide care for those without a family doctor is coming to an end this Friday.
Those behind the Non Urgent Rapid Access clinic, however, say they hope it won’t be gone for long.
Dr. Kim Morrison, the Chief of Staff at LACGH, says that as the pilot comes to a close, she’s working with the Southeast Local Health Integration Network to hopefully make the clinic a permanent local fixture; however, the proposal will have to work its way through the process. “I’m very hopeful that we’ll have something bigger and better, but it’s just not going to be next week. It’s going to take time,” she said.
She said she’ll be meeting with LHIN representatives next week regarding the pilot project and the future of the clinic.
One thing that isn’t in question for her, however, is the project’s success. When asked whether the data from the project supports a new, permanent clinic, she replied, “100 per cent, without a doubt.”
Over the last five months, the clinic served more than 1,200 patients, and most nights the clinic was at capacity or over capacity. According to an exit survey conducted as part of the clinic, 95 per cent of patients said they were satisfied with the service they received.
Another statistic Dr. Morrison highlights is the fact that 56 per cent of the patients that went to the NURA clinic said they would have gone to the emergency room instead if the clinic weren’t available.
Dr. Morrison also noted that 14 per cent of those who went to the NURA clinic didn’t have a family doctor.
The NURA clinic counted on support not only from LACGH but also local physicians, the ER, hospitalists and residents from Queen’s University, according to a press release issued by Dr. Morrison on Monday.
“With physician, board and administrative support, we developed a collaborative program to meet the needs of patients for after-hours care as an alternative to our already busy ER,” said Dr. Morrison. “It also created a place for those without a family doctor to access care for their acute and chronic medical conditions outside the ER and highlighted how desperately our community is in need of more primary care providers.”
Dr. Morrison suggested that the ER is carrying “a disproportionate amount of the workload for primary care” for patients without a family doctor.
“This pilot project has clearly identified that there are options for creativity, integration and system transformation that can be explored to meet many of these concerns for access to care,” she said.
The clinic had been operating Monday to Friday from 5-8 p.m., using the outpatient clinic area for its appointments. Appointments were scheduled within that three-hour window and capped at 10 minutes per patient to keep wait times short. Any patients who required more complex care would be sent to the ER.