Menzies Medical Centre is making good progress on building up its complement of physicians, and it has been significantly cutting down the waiting list of people without a family practitioner.
With that in mind, the clinic is getting the word out to encourage people who still need a family doctor and are not registered with Manitoba Health’s Family Doctor Finder to make sure they are on the waiting list
“We really want to get the message out that we’ve been very successful with recruitment, and we have additional physicians joining us soon … some as soon as the end of February,” noted Nicole Walske, executive director of the Morden clinic.
The clinic is currently at 17 family physicians and two paediatricians along with two nurse practitioners, but there are two more doctors confirmed to be joining within the next six months with another potential two then a little further down the road.
It means that they have been able to really make a dent in their Family Doctor Finder waiting list, which had been at over 2,000 people as recently as 2023.
“Over the last three years we have removed nearly everyone from the Family Doctor Finder list. As of [Jan. 20], there were 21 people from Morden registered on Family Doctor Finder,” Walske noted.
“We know that not everyone is registered on that list,” she added. “We also know that some people have been registered and somehow are no longer on that list … so we know there’s been some significant gaps in that program, but it is working for those who are registered and maintain their registration.
“So we want to make sure we are assigning people to a family doctor in an organized and equitable way. We want to make sure that people are following the protocols,” Walske continued. “We had restricted some of the registrations to prioritize the citizens of Morden and then we went out into the region, so we will be opening it up to the region more broadly as we expand on our physician base.
“Some people maybe have accepted a physician further away thinking [it’s] until I get one [closer], but once you are assigned a physician you are no longer on that list,” she explained.
Walske said it feels good to see such progress being made.
“We’ve had huge success in recruitment. It feels good that we’re not leaving patients in that stuck position,” she said. “It does feel good to have some positive energy and the community feeling that positive momentum as well.”
And while they are making good progress, she stressed it is always an ongoing effort.
“There’s always changes; we’re not entirely sure where things are at,” Walske said. “There’s lots of work at the hospital as well which supplements the clinical care, but right now our priority is the clinic and making sure that people have access to a doctor.”
Walske also noted boosting the physician count has a ripple effect, especially by taking some pressure off the walk-in clinic.
“We still have some growth opportunity with our walk-in. We know that there’s more demand than we have space for in our walk-in, so we’re looking at how we can expand that service as we have more doctors join us.”
Walske encouraged people to contact the Manitoba Family Doctor Finder either online or by calling 1-866-690-8260.
“We’re hoping to take additional patients at the end of February when our next new physician arrives to our community.”
