The Manitoba government is investing nearly $3 million to establish a new minor treatment clinic at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg (HSC) to reduce pressure on the emergency department and connect people who come to the emergency department but require a less urgent level of care with other on-site options.

“This new clinic will be an on-site addition to help connect people with the right care at the right time,” said Health Minister Audrey Gordon. “We know, for many reasons, people who need care often come to HSC’s emergency department. The minor treatment clinic will reduce barriers to access, help address wait times in the emergency department and also help to manage demands on health-care providers working at HSC.”

The minor treatment clinic, located near the emergency department, will provide care to patients with non-urgent illnesses or injuries who come to the facility’s emergency department. Once fully operational, it will accept referrals from the emergency department seven days a week, 12 hours a day. The clinic is anticipated to see up to 22,000 patients annually, the minister noted.

The clinic will offer appropriate care for patients with less urgent health concerns, often with a shorter wait than would be experienced in the emergency department, where patients with more serious concerns are seen first, the minister noted. The new clinic will also improve access to care by reducing the number of patients who leave without being seen, the minister added.

This new clinic is also expected to support low-acuity patients who receive intravenous care, both in the community and in the hospital, the latter of which cannot be discharged without connection to community supports, the minister said.

“The clinic will offer another option for a population of patients with less urgent concerns who may not have a primary care provider or the ability to travel to another care centre,” said Dr. Manon Pelletier, site medical lead, HSC Winnipeg. “Emergency department teams will continue to triage and assess patients upon arrival at the emergency department and will identify appropriate patients whose concerns can appropriately be seen in the clinic. Patients without connections to primary care in the surrounding community and those living in remote northern communities that require timely access to diagnostics and specialty services will be seen in this clinic, which will aim to provide care in a culturally safe environment and facilitate primary care connections.”

The Manitoba government will provide Shared Health with nearly $2.4 million annually for the clinic, including site renovations, staffing and operating costs, and over $500,000 for capital renovations and retrofitting the existing area.

As outlined in Budget 2023, the Manitoba government is also investing $1.2 billion in multi-year capital investments in hospitals and other health infrastructure across the province including:

  • redevelopment of the St. Boniface Hospital emergency department;
  • renovations to the Grace Hospital intensive care unit and at CancerCare Manitoba;
  • support for the Health Sciences Centre redevelopment through the Health Sciences Centre Foundation $100-million Operation Excellence campaign;
  • expansions and significant renovations currently underway at Selkirk Regional Health Centre, Brandon Regional Health Centre, Western Manitoba Cancer Centre in Brandon, Tri-Lake Health Centre in Virden, Souris Health Centre, Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach, Boundary Trails Health Centre in Morden-Winkler, Dauphin Regional Health Centre and Lakeshore General Hospital in Ashern; and
  • construction of new hospitals in Neepawa and Portage la Prairie.

“Budget 2023 is making historic investments to heal health care in our province to help people get the care they need, when and where it’s needed,” said Gordon. “These strategic and significant investments are the direct result of consultation with front-line health-care professionals and focus on people, infrastructure and innovation to support improved access to timely care for more Manitobans now and into the future.”

In addition to capital investments, the minister noted that the province continues to make significant investments in the people who work at the heart of the health-care system. This work is being led through the Health Human Resource Action Plan, which will invest $200 million to retain, train and recruit health-care professionals, recognizing that capital projects rely on appropriate staffing to provide the best care possible to patients.

In three months since the action plan was announced, over a quarter of the total 2,000 health professionals have been hired.