A new emergency clinic for minor health issues is set to open May 22 in the former emergency room of Jeffery Hale Hospital. Launched as part of a pilot project, this initiative aims in particular to meet the needs of patients without a family doctor in the region.
“This is the first project of this kind to be born in Quebec,” said MP Joëlle Boutin, who represented the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, during the announcement.
The new clinic will focus on priority 4 and 5 (P4, P5) emergencies, the very ones for which patients currently have to wait long hours in emergency rooms in other hospitals. The project also provides for P4-P5 patients from other establishments to be redirected to the Jeffery Hale.
Increase in support?
Remember that the former Jeffery Hale emergency had to close its doors in April 2020 due to the pandemic. It had subsequently been converted into a designated COVID-19 assessment clinic and reopened just a month ago.
In the past, approximately 24,000 people were treated there each year. A balance sheet that could increase to 30,000, according to the CEO of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, Guy Thibodeau. How ? By focusing on a new multidisciplinary approach and the addition of new professionals absent in the former emergency room: two nurse practitioners, a pharmacist and a physiotherapist.
If successful, logic dictates that the formula be repeated elsewhere. However, insofar as this is a pilot project evaluated over a period of six months, it would be surprising if we announced the opening of new clinics of this type elsewhere in Quebec between now and the October elections.
More details will follow.