Walk-in clinics not an option in Estevan right now: Hoffort

If you're hoping to see a doctor on short notice in a medical walk-in clinic in the south east, you'll be out of luck in Estevan.

St. Joseph's Hospital Executive Director Greg Hoffort confirmed Tuesday that there are currently no clinics in Estevan that offer walk-ins.

"In the past the walk-in clinics have been completely managed by different physician clinics in town, one or two of them had clinics, and they're not offering them at this time," Hoffort said.

"We've had discussions with the physicians but the physicians have a busy and demanding schedule, so it doesn't always work in their schedule to host a walk-in clinic."

Hoffort said St. Joseph's has recently recruited four new family doctors. One started this week while three others will begin practicing this summer. He said physician recruitment and retention could help bring back walk-in clinics in the future.

"You know maybe as we get up in physicians, we'll have an opportunity to get more folks a family doctor, and or potentially walk in clinics down the road," he said.

Hoffort admitted that having no walk-in clinics does put a strain on the emergency room of St. Joseph's Hospital, and that most of the issues stem from a lack of ability to keep doctors in Estevan once they're brought in.

"We recognize retention has been our biggest trouble. Getting the physicians to Estevan has not been as big a challenge as keeping them in Estevan. We just haven't necessarily found the doctors that typically want to make Estevan home forever," he said. 

"And we continue to work on that. We're optimistic about some of our new recruits that are coming from elsewhere in Saskatchewan."