A packed Emergency waiting room is no place for an orphan. ‘Orphan patients’—people without access to family doctors—now receive proper care sooner, at one of three new super clinics offering walk-in health services.
As of September 2017, patients without a GP or who cannot be seen by their doctor within a brief time frame can drop in to one of the new super clinics opened in the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal catchment. The clinics’ multidisciplinary teams are available to welcome patients during extended opening hours every day of the year, which makes them a convenient alternative to busy hospital emergency rooms.
“In front line, we are always evaluating how to best serve our local population, based on their particular medical needs,” says Sébastien Blin, the Associate Director of Front-Line Services. “We examine how and where services are offered, so that we can develop the most suitable services for our users in partnership with existing clinics within the community.”
Super clinics at a glance
• Serve patients without access to a family doctor
• Open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
• Offer walk-ins same-day medical consultation
• Provide onsite test centre and radiology services
• Use electronic medical records to ensure continuity of care
• To date, three super clinics in our CIUSSS territory, six sites in Montreal,18 in Quebec
The super clinics are well equipped to serve patients with semi-urgent medical problems. They offer on-site or nearby diagnostic tests and radiology services, so that a patient with difficulty breathing may be sent for a lung X-ray, while a diabetic can receive a blood test. The lab or medical imaging results are available sooner, which means the doctor can prescribe medication or treatment within a reasonable delay.
The super clinics also provide improved access in times when there is a greater demand for medical services, such as the flu season, points out Mélanie Lapointe, a Front-Line Planning, Programming and Research Officer. Additional clinics are expected to open within our CIUSSS area in the year ahead.
Learn more about super clinics on our CIUSSS website at Home > Care and services > Family Medicine Group (FMG) > What is a FMG? > Super Clinics (FMG-Network).
