Northumberland County and partners are looking to hear from area residents and others who’ve used the Port Hope Medical Walk-in Clinic.
The county is teaming up with students from the Loyalist College nursing program for a survey aimed at gathering input about people’s experiences related to accessing services at the Toronto Road clinic in Port Hope.
The Port Hope Medical Walk-in Clinic, which opened in August 2024 as a one-year pilot project, is delivered in partnership with the Community Health Centres of Northumberland (CHCN).
Through the survey, the partners hope to determine the clinic’s impact in the community and explore ways to enhance its services. The questionnaire should take about 10 minutes to complete and is available online at porthopeclinic.ca. Paper copies are also available at the clinic at 99 Toronto Rd.
The Port Hope Medical Walk-in Clinic is intended to help address the gap in health care access for people without a family doctor. Through the pilot project, the county is aiming to evaluate the feasibility of providing medical walk-in clinic services on a permanent basis.
Information shared in the survey will support research for the pilot evaluation process and “will help provide valuable insight into how services could be improved,” the county noted in a media release.
Glenn Dees, Northumberland County’s director of health and human services, shared with kawarthaNOW a few insights into the clinic’s use to date and his hopes for the survey’s findings.
Dees said data points to people visiting the clinic for issues such as fever and systemic infections, respiratory issues, injury issues, and skin allergies — “the typical things people would go to see their primary care provider for, for the most part, if they have a primary care provider.”
“That’s really the intent of the clinic: to provide primary care services to those individuals who are not attached to a doctor,” he added.
There’s always a physician on site, Dees said, adding that the clinic is well-used by the public and at capacity most of the time when it’s open.
According to Dees, while the partnership with the college will help collect quantitative data, the county is also evaluating the quality of service at the clinic.
“The next stage, where we’re at now, is launching the survey to capture some of that qualitative data,” he said. For example, the survey asks participants if they were able to receive care when they attended the clinic, whether they felt their concerns were heard, whether they were given an opportunity to ask questions, and whether they were connected to the services they needed.
“I think what we’re hoping to see is that there’s a good need for it,” Dees said. “So, with the quantitative data, we can establish that the clinic is being very well-utilized and it’s addressing concerns (for patients) that maybe otherwise might go unaddressed.”
The county is also hoping to see that the clinic is alleviating some of the pressure on emergency departments and reducing the costs associated with visiting a hospital.
For almost 20 years, a medical walk-in clinic was available to the community at 99 Toronto Rd. in Port Hope, until it closed in 2020.
In early 2024, with an ever-increasing need for local primary care services, Northumberland County council committed to reopening a clinic at the same location for one year to assess the possibility of permanently restoring walk-in clinic services.
“With a high number of unattached patients in Northumberland, it is essential that we leverage expertise and resources across partnerships to meet local needs,” Northumberland County Warden Brian Ostrander told kawarthaNOW just prior to the clinic opening last summer.
“Together, the county and the CHCN will pilot a restoration of services via the Port Hope Medical Walk-in Clinic as a crucial step towards ensuring accessible health care for all residents.”
The Port Hope and District Health Care Foundation, along with the Town of Cobourg, the Rotary Club of Port Hope, Loyalist College, and other community partners are helping fund the initiative, the release noted.
The clinic is a same-day clinic, when capacity allows, and is not for emergency care. It handles medical problems that are considered non-life-threatening such as fever without a rash and vice versa, abdominal pain, mild vomiting or diarrhea, wheezing or shortness of breath, sinus infections, moderate flu-like symptoms or cold symptoms, sore throat, ear pain, eye injury, sprains and strains, small cuts without continuous bleeding, minor burns, painful urination, and dehydration.
The clinic’s hours of operation are variable and subject to change based on physician availability. For upcoming hours and additional information, visit porthopeclinic.ca.
The Ontario Medical Association estimates there are 2.5 million people in the province who are without a family doctor. In Northumberland County alone, more than 8,000 Northumberland residents do not have a primary care provider and this number could rise to more than 20,000 by 2026, according to information from the county.
