A northern Alberta town is losing its only family doctor clinic and officials are trying to find solutions before the doors close for good at the end of May.
The Wembley Medical Clinic was opened in 2021. It’s the only family doctor clinic in the town of Wembley, Alta., about 23 kilometres west of Grande Prairie.
A notice of practice closure was posted on social media Feb. 12, explaining that one of the clinic’s doctors was moving and the other was unable to take over ownership or practice at the clinic due to a College of Physicians and Surgeons practice permit restriction.
According to Wembley town council, the community of roughly 1,400 was without family doctor coverage for about three decades before the clinic opened and now residents face losing it again.
“The last two or three weeks, I feel like we were put into a tailspin and a bit of a panic mode. We are kind of reeling from it,” said Coun. Anna Underwood.
“Having the doctor in our small community has been huge, and she has been a fabulous doctor for [us]. I can’t say anything negative about her. She was lovely. Her family was lovely. They were engaged in our community.”
Underwood said town officials were told the plan was to have the second physician take over the practice, but they were recently informed of the restriction, which sent them back to the drawing board.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta confirms the doctor is currently in the practice readiness assessment process. It is an alternate route to independent practice in Alberta for physicians without complete Canadian credentials.
Wembley is in the process of trying to recruit another doctor, but it is also considering trying to bring in a nurse practitioner to help keep the clinic in operation, Underwood said.
For now, patients are advised to go a walk-in clinic, and explore health-care options in surrounding communities.
“It’s definitely possible to drive to Grande Prairie to go and see a doctor. Having a doctor in our own community though, it gives you more of a sense of community,” said Underwood.
She noted the community has a large senior population, and many people who can’t easily make a trip to another area.
“We’re going to try whatever we can do to get that filled as quickly as possible.”
Long-standing issue
The issue of recruitment and retention of health-care professionals is a long-standing one, with several communities in northwest Alberta trying different tactics. Grande Prairie has recently launched an incentive program to help with attracting more doctors.
“We often hear from physicians who are staying longer than they plan to,” said Chris Galloway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
“They delay retirement as they look for someone to take over their practice. They try to find folks to buy it out or to come in and transition, and they aren’t able to. Eventually they often have to make the hard decision to just shut down.”
It’s difficult for the physicians, Galloway said.
“They know that they’re leaving patients with nowhere else to go. They know that they’re leaving them having to go to the emergency room, or try to access care in other ways. But at some point they can only keep it going for so long.”
Wembley town council is collaborating with Alberta Health Services and the province to explore ways to secure health care for the community.
In a statement to CBC News, Alberta Health said addressing health-care staffing shortages is a priority for the government, especially in rural areas, but it acknowledged more needs to be done.
The ministry said it recently announced the creation of Primary Care Alberta, an agency to support integrated teams of family physicians, nurse practitioners and pharmacists.
