The Manitoba government is expanding access to primary care and reducing emergency room wait times by opening a new minor injury and illness clinic at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced Thursday (July 5).
“We’re delivering on a promise made to Manitobans to invest in primary care and provide more options for non-urgent health care, because Manitobans shouldn’t have to wait for hours to have a health need attended to,” said Asagwara. “Having new locations able to address minor ailments, andcast, stitch, diagnose and test will take a lot of pressure off our emergency departments, make better use of emergency department resources and offer improved service to Manitobans.”
A request for proposals for the operation and management of this new clinic, along with a similar clinic at the Misericordia Hospital to replace the shuttered urgent care centre, has been issued. The Grace Hospital clinic is set to open in September and will operate similarly to the minor injury and illness clinics on Corydon Avenue in Winnipeg and in Brandon, noted the minister.
The clinic will be staffed by physicians and other health care professionals who will provide primary care services and support for minor health concerns including minor injuries. Patients will have the option to access services by walk-in appointment or by booking same-or next-day appointments. They will operate seven days a week and offer extended hours to fit families’ schedules.
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The Manitoba government is reducing pressure on emergency rooms and improving wait times by reopening the former Misericordia Urgent Care Centre as a minor injury and illness clinic, Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara announced Thursday (July 5).
“When the former government closed urgent care at Misericordia Health Centre in 2017, they took away a local option for patients needing non-emergency care and forced Manitobans to seek treatment in busy emergency rooms,” said Asagwara. “We’re changing that today and delivering on our campaign promise to open minor injury and illness clinics in Winnipeg so that individuals and families have another place to go for their minor ailments, their broken bones, their cuts and their sprains.”
The new minor injury and illness clinic will be located at the Misericordia Health Centre on the site of the former Urgent Care Centre and is expected to open in early fall, noted the minister. The clinic will be staffed by physicians and other health-care professionals who will provide non-emergency acute care services and support for minor health concerns. Patients will have the option to seek services by walk-in appointment or by booking same- or next-day appointments online. It will operate seven days a week and offer extended hours to fit families’ schedules.
The clinic is part of a request for proposals issued by the province for two new minor injury and illness clinics in Winnipeg. A second location will be connected to Grace Hospital at the Access Winnipeg West walk-in clinic. Both locations are expected to operate similarly to the minor injury and illness clinic in Brandon, which was announced in March and is set to open in September, noted Asagwara.
