Forthcoming super-clinic to change the healthcare landscape in Gatineau

A super-clinic is scheduled to open in Hull in the spring of 2017. Unlike a CLSC, a super-clinic is a private institution generally operated by physicians. Therefore, every super-clinic will be slightly different and their services will vary even if they must operate within the same framework.

 

“A super-clinic is similar to a Groupe de médecine de famille (GMF) clinic, but with extras. The CISSSO (Regional Health Board) believes super-clinics will have a positive impact on the healthcare system because it will accept patients who don’t have a family doctor without an appointment. This will be good for our population because there are many individuals who don’t have a family doctor in the region,” said Geneviève Côté, spokesperson for the CISSSO.

Although not directly involved in the super-clinic project in Hull, the CISSSO is “collaborating” with the team of physicians led by Dr Anne Gervais, who is spearheading the super-clinic project.

Côté said that it’s not because a super-clinic is set to open that the CISSSO will modify or reduce its service offer in CLSCs or other public health institutions. “The services offered in super-clinics will be like bonus points for us,” she noted. Super-clinics are supposed to help in emptying and reducing stress on ERs by accepting walk-in patients and semi-urgent cases. Patients will not pay for services in super-clinics. Physicians will bill the RAMQ for services offered.

According to provincial plans, super-clinics should be open between 7 am and 10 pm every day and should accept appointments up to 3 hours before they close. The services offered should include sampling, simple X-rays and ultrasounds.

Super-clinics will also have different levels and will vary in the types of services offered. The higher the level, the more staff will be present, the more services will be offered, and the more consultations will take place. Funding provided by the government will reflect the level.

For example, a level 1 super-clinic would carry out between 20,000 to 29,999 consultations a year, would receive $82,867 for the clinic’s operation and have six full-time nurses. A level 5 clinic would carry out over 60,000 medical consultations, receive $232,966 in funding and have 12 full-time nurses.

It remains unclear what level the forthcoming super-clinic located at the corner of Cité-des-Jeunes and St-Raymond will be and when exactly it will open.

The project took an important step when the physicians purchased the roughly 5,265 square-metre lot near the Hull Hospital from Gatineau for $1.115 million.

This new clinic will occupy one of the five zones designated to welcome super-clinics in Gatineau. In general, there should be one in Aylmer, one in Hull, one in north Hull and northwest Gatineau sector, one in Gatineau sector and one in the sectors of Buckingham and Masson-Angers.