The Citizen has run several stories in the past about how tough it is to get a doctor in Prince George. Local physicians are up to their proverbial eyeballs with patient lists and can't handle any more.
Trying to get in to see a family physician - if you have one - can often mean booking an appointment weeks in advance.
This results in frustration with the health-care system and means long and often painful waits at the Nechako Medical Clinic at Spruceland Mall or even the emergency room at the University Hospital of Northern B.C.
If you have ever driven past the walk-in clinic close to opening time - usually 4 p.m. on week days - you will have noticed the huge lineups outside no matter what the temperature is.
Once the clinic opens it does not take long for all the rooms and chairs to fill and have overflow going out the doors. There is often a steady flow until closing time.
On the other side is the emergency room at the hospital. Long waits and frayed nerves are often to be expected when you visit. There are horror stories all over the city about how long people have had to wait to be seen.
I have personally waited four-and-a-half hours after going into anaphylactic shock only to recover enough to go home without even seeing a doctor. I asked several others who had been in the wait room before I got there how long they had been waiting and some had been there more than eight hours.
Now although this is probably not the norm, the waits are generally long and frustrating and sometimes painful.
There are several reasons for this, including - due to budget restraints - not enough hospital staff to deal with the numbers of people who show up at emergency. There are also the people who show up at emergency who should not be there in the first place: those with colds, those with minor aches and pains that should be dealt with at the doctor's office or not at all, those who are just drunk and have nothing wrong with them as well as the odd hypochondriac.
Yesterday we ran a story about a new walk-in clinic opening in Prince George at Superstore called Salveo Medical Clinic. The clinic is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and not only provides what a regular family physician's office would, but in addition can complete some minor emergency procedures like getting stitches.
The clinic provides operating hours that complement the clinic at Spruceland Mall making for better options for patients. If you work during the day and need to go to a clinic, Spruceland is open in the evening, and if you are off during the day the Superstore clinic is open. It is a boon for the people of our city that we now have clinics available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week, as well as having weekend hours.
Hopefully the opening of the Superstore clinic will ease the long lineups later in the day at the Nechako clinic as well as easing the wait times and stress on emergency room staff and resources.
Another medical clinic has been necessary in the city for a long time and is something that will no doubt be welcomed not only by emergency room staff but every patient in the city.
-- Associate editor Mick Kearns
