A day after fulfilling a campaign promise to announce 10 collaborative care clinics within her first year of office, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt has unveiled an 11th clinic. A collaborative care clinic will be established in Saint John’s north end. Horizon Health Network has been given $2.9 million from the province to establish the new clinic space in the area and recruit health-care professionals to the team. It will be an expansion of the existing North End Wellness Centre. The facility currently serves 450 patients while providing additional outreach health services in the community through a team of a physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and part-time licensed practical nurses. “The team here as you can see is bursting at the seams,” said New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt on Tuesday. “They would love to take more patients, but they need more space, and they need more team members. They’re serving some of the most vulnerable communities in New Brunswick from here in the North End Wellness Centre.” Officials said they selected the North End Wellness Clinic since it’s considered a clinic with high potential. Health Minister John Dornan went so far as to say the space has the highest potential of all the clinics that the province has announced this year. The clinic will be able to take on an additional 2,000 patients next year in an area Dornan says is between two at-risk neighbourhoods. “People that have to go up the hill to the Regional Hospital or across town to St. Joseph’s Hospital will be able to get the primary care they need here,” said Dornan. “This was a no-brainer as a clinic that we would invest in, and the team is quite excited, able, and will grow.” A total of 14,000 people have been taken off the doctor waitlist this year with the establishment of the 11 announced clinics. Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson says recruitment efforts for the clinics continue, noting a bit more concern when it comes to attracting allied health professionals to the province. Overall, she says the clinics that have opened have been operating smoothly. “The model is being met with a great deal of satisfaction from the teams themselves,” says Melanson. “Physicians are feeling very supported because it’s helping them to have this team around them where patients that may not necessarily need to see the doctor are able to be cared for well by an allied health professional, basically expanding their ability to work to their full scope of practice.” The premier promised more collaborative care clinics will be announced in the new year, with a mandate to establish 30 of these clinics by 2029. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
