SHELBURNE, N.S. — A weekly primary care clinic will be starting at the end of April for Shelburne County residents without a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
The news comes in the latest Roseway Hospital Community Update.
“This is an interim measure to help provide residents with access to primary care for those who don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner,” reads the update.
“The Shelburne family practice team has been planning and working to start this new service by the end of April,” said Fraser Mooney, spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Health Authority in the tri-county area.
“The clinic will be held on Fridays in the Roseway Hospital and not in the new health centre. It will be a weekly clinic for residents of Shelburne County who don’t currently have a family doctor or nurse practitioner,” Mooney said. “Each Friday starting at 8 a.m., patients will be able to book a same-day appointment by contacting the clinic at 902-875-2321.”
Mooney said patients will first see a licensed practical nurse, followed by a visit with a nurse practitioner or family doctor.
“Patients will see the primary care provider who is working in the clinic that day,” he explained. “This could be either a nurse practitioner or family doctor.”
People who do not have a primary care provider are still being urged to add their name to the Need a Family Practice Registry if they haven’t done so already, said Mooney.
People can register online at needafamilypractice.nshealth.ca, or by calling 811, Monday through Friday, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
“When family doctors and nurse practitioners with the Shelburne Family Practice are able to accept new patients, people are contacted in order from the registry,” Mooney said.
