New clinic opening at Winnipeg hospital, premier says

A new clinic opening Wednesday at St. Boniface Hospital will help divert cases from its emergency room.

A new clinic is set to open at St. Boniface Hospital in a push to divert less emergent cases from hospital waiting rooms.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced on Your Morning Winnipeg the new clinic will open Wednesday.

“Maybe you’re not at that level of sickness or injury where you need to see an ER doc, maybe you just need a prescription or just some advice on something over the counter,” he said.

“(It’s) one more option for health care, a little bit closer to home, another access point so you can skip the waiting room of the ER when it’s appropriate.”

The clinic will be open 365 days a year, he said, following similar models already available at Misericordia, Victoria, Grace and Health Sciences Centre hospitals.

The announcement comes on the heels of new data from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority that showed median emergency department wait times were trending higher than when the NDP first took office.

Fixing health care was the cornerstone of Kinew’s platform when he won a majority government in 2023.

When asked about the rising wait times, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the NDP government has added 900 net new nurses, 200 doctors and hundreds of other health care workers, while extending primary clinic hours and opening new minor injury clinics.

Asagwara also said the NDP planned to add more doctors to ERs and improve Health Links.

- With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele