Peterborough Family Health Team Expands Healthcare With New Clinic For Unattached Patients

Those without a family doctor have a new facility for healthcare as the Peterborough Family Health Team (FHT) has expanded its services with a new clinic that exclusively accepts ‘unattached’ patients at 555 George St. N., announced on Tuesday morning.

Dr. Tehmina Chattha Is one of eight doctors at the Peterborough Family Health Team’s new expanded clinic at 185 King St. Photo by David Tuan bui.

The new clinic space will contain additional exam rooms, allowing it to expand appointments for Peterborough city and county residents who do not have a family doctor in Ontario. Those who do have one are not eligible for care at the clinic.

The expansion allows the King Street location (185 King St.) to operate and support more niche services such as well babies.

The clinic has eight doctors, four nurses and a nurse practitioner who can see up to roughly 50-60 patients daily.

Dr. Tehmina Chattha is one of the doctors at the new clinic. She was a former family practitioner and previously worked in ER in Saskatchewan. Chattha says she looks forward to the challenges and changes with her new role.

“Taking care of unattached patients comes with its own challenges because we don't have all the information available, labs and whatever diagnostic imaging have been done before, you don't have access to them. You don't have access to their health records,” she explained. “So gathering all this information, especially in the initial appointment when you are trying to manage a plan, it becomes a little challenging. However we are trying our best to help them out.”

This clinic offers in-person, same-day or next-day care to those with limited options. First-time patients must book an appointment by calling 705-651-4866. Returning patients can book online.

While this clinic is needed in Peterborough, it is just a stop-gap solution to the always-demanding healthcare in town according to Duff Sprague, Peterborough FHT CEO.

“This isn't comprehensive care so it's not your family doctor here, it's family physician care. You don't have that long-term relationship with physicians,” he explained. “Fortunately is that when doctors come from another area and they work in this clinic, so far we have two who plan to open a full family practice so that's the benefit. 

The clinic is receiving some financial help to make sure it can operate. The Peterborough Ontario Health Team (OHT) has committed to covering the clinic’s rent until Sept. 1. Director of Operations; the Patient Services Supervisor and City’s physician recruiter have donated their personal time to preparation of the space, including painting, deep cleaning, transporting equipment and other necessary setup efforts. Whelan’s Floor donated and installed replacement flooring in part of the clinic and to Rishor Real Estate Inc.gave a 50 per cent rent reduction for the first year.

“Despite a base budget that has not increased in many years, we’ve strategically managed to run the clinic within the existing funding and the access clinic physicians have to bill OHIP for their services,” said Sprague. “We took a coordinated approach to provide essential care to unattached patients. Our PFHT Health Clinic offers a much less expensive and more appropriate alternative to the only other in-person choice in the area – hospital emergency departments.”

The Peterborough FHT Health Clinic says from April 1 last year to early March, they estimate $370,804 in savings due to hospital emergency room diversions. The savings are based on the patient being assessed at the emergency department and do not include any testing procedures or specialist care according to Peterborough FHT. They also mention that cancer screenings conducted at the clinic not only save costs for the system but also open the door to care for the unattached patient.

“I think that primary care has not been funded adequately. It's suffering and that is the key to managing the other healthcare costs,” explained Sprague. “Good strong family medicine, nurse practitioners, primary care teams are going to shorten the wait at emergency departments, going to shorten the volume, going to delay people going into hospital beds, delay people going into long-term care beds but far more expensive parts of the healthcare system, there's going to be reduced use and reduced need.”

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Those Without a Family Doctor Can Visit Peterborough Family Health Team For Acute or Problem-Specific Needs

The Peterborough Family Health Team (FHT) has expanded services at their PFHT Health Clinic. Peterborough City and County residents without a primary care provider can now see a family doctor or nurse practitioner in person for acute and problem-specific needs, announced on Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of FHT.

The clinic has two locations at King Street in Peterborough and Strickland Street in Lakefield, increasing the number of available appointments. Residents can now book an appointment on the same day they call or the following day. Unattached patients who have already visited the clinic at least once can now request an appointment to renew their prescriptions through online booking.

Additionally, on March 14 and 21, the PFHT Health Clinic will hold the ‘Don’t Be Late, Cancer Won’t Wait’ screening day for unattached patients who have a cervix and are due for a Pap Test. These screenings are one of the many functions in family medicine and why all Ontarians need to have a primary care provider according to Duff Sprague, FHT CEO.

“We knew action must be taken to support the alarming number of unattached patients in this community,” he said. “While we wait for the Ministry of Health to recognize the seriousness of the crisis in family medicine and primary care, we are using our limited resources to operate the PFHT Health Clinic. This is an interim solution. We are committed to the many thousands of area residents and will do all we can to support their access to high-quality, in-person care by a family doctor or nurse practitioner.”

Despite the positive additions, the recent investments in primary healthcare do not come close to ensuring that every Ontarian has access to family medicine and primary care teams said Sprague.

“Not only is the number of physicians opening a family practice unable to fill the gaps made by those retiring or leaving a practice but add to that the four-year wage freeze in primary care teams that has fewer and fewer other clinicians choosing primary care,” he said. “We are very fortunate to have many clinicians who stay in primary care despite the compensation inequities but without action, there will come a time when even the most passionate will leave primary care.”

The types of non-urgent health concerns that can be addressed at the clinic include:

• Sore throat/ears

• Cancer screening

• Prescription renewals

• Women’s health/contraceptive counselling

• Growth & development concerns

• New sprains/strains

• Chronic disease check-in

• And more

To book an appointment at the PFHT Health Clinic, those without a primary care provider must call 705-651-4866. For details about this clinic or to renew a prescription, visit online.

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