Long waits at local walk-in clinics
After moving to Ottawa a year ago, it’s been a challenge for Michelle Zilbergerts to access medical care.
“I have been trying to find a family doctor since moving here,” she said.
Zilbergerts says there were very few options when she needed to see a doctor fast.
“It’s frustrating, going into walk-in clinics and being forced to wait hours upon hours sometimes, just to get an appointment,” she said.
Traditionally, walk-in clinics are used by people without family doctors, but now the clinics themselves are filling up.
As an otherwise healthy 24-year-old, Zilbergerts says she was thankful it wasn’t an emergency.
“It’s definitely been really frustrating, the inability to access a stable family doctor has been definitely really stressful,” she said.
The president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) says the struggle to find a family doctor has gotten worse across the country.
“There was a recent report in Ontario that found that by 2025, there will be several million patients who can’t find a family doctor,” said Dr. Alika LaFontaine, president of the CMA.
Althea, an Ottawa resident, tried to access three walk-in clinics in Ottawa two weeks ago, but failed.
“I went to three and spent over a $100 in cabs, but didn’t see a doctor in person,” she said.
Rachel Muir, who is a registered nurse and president of the Ontario Nurses Association for the Ottawa Hospital, says long wait times are also being felt in the emergency room at the hospital.
“The average wait time in the emergency room is now almost 21 hours, so that for me tells me that if there are spaces available in the walk-in clinics, they are taken up rapidly.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.