The Brandon Clinic will be ending its walk-in services as of July 4, 2023.
In a media release, Gina McKay, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba (CUPE) said “Walk-in services at the Brandon Clinic are yet another victim of the provincial government’s inability to attract and retain doctors and other health care workers to Manitoba.”
She says the Brandon Clinic issued a memo to the public, indicating that this closure is a direct result of “severe family physician shortages”.
“Closing the walk-in clinic will put further stress on the Brandon Hospital which is already short-staffed and overwhelmed,” said Dawna Klemick, President of CUPE Local 2096 representing 44 health care workers including nurses, at the Brandon Clinic. “We’ve already lost nurses at the Brandon Clinic in recent weeks, and now the community is really being left out in the cold, it is unacceptable, and the province has to do something to address the health care staffing crisis in Manitoba”.
The Brandon Clinic’s Executive Director Darcy Bell told the Brandon Sun “there’s been a slow progression of doctors leaving. They had two unexpected retirements a couple of months ago, and for those who remain, heavy workloads are causing burnout.” She said the clinic is down to 31 physicians from 40 before the pandemic.
The Brandon Clinic, which does not receive government funding, also recently laid-off seven staffers including five nurses.
