Carrie Brewer had regular access to a family doctor for 18 years, but that could change in just a few months.
Her doctor, Dr. Linda Ugrin, sent them a letter on Wednesday saying she was leaving her family practice at Fredericton Northside Health Center on October 28, and if no new doctor is hired, Brewer and Ugrin’s other patients will be fired. of the clinic.
“I don’t believe they’ll find anyone in that time frame,” Brewer said.
“I actually think I’m going to go a few years without a doctor, like the average person who’s on that Patient Connect waitlist I signed up for yesterday when I got the letter.”
In her letter, Ugrin said she was closing her family medicine practice and transitioning to a hospitalist role in Fredericton.
“This means that I will no longer be your family physician and you will no longer be a patient at Horizon Community Health Center in Fredericton Northside after October 28, 2022,” Ugrin wrote in the letter.
Ugrin said Horizon is actively recruiting to find a physician to join the health center and if the health authority finds one, or if Ugrin is able to transfer its patients to another primary care provider, they will receive a call. phone to let them know.
Ugrin recommended that patients immediately register with Patient Connect NB, an online portal that allows New Brunswickers to register to receive a primary care provider.
Recent figures from the Ministry of Health show that more than 63,000 people have registered and are on a waiting list.
Last fall, former health minister Dorothy Shephard made access to primary care a key pillar of her new health plan.
The plan promised to phase out the Patient Connect NB list by the end of September and replace it with the New Brunswick Primary Care Network, which the plan said would allow anyone without a doctor or nurse practitioner to go there. timely access meanwhile. for a longer term investment.
In an email, a Department of Health spokesperson said the government was moving people into the primary care network, “providing them with care from a network of family doctors and nurse practitioners to that they can be permanently placed with their own primary care provider. Those who have been the longest wait are given priority.”
Previous experience losing a doctor
Brewer said it wasn’t his first experience of losing his family doctor at the center, but this time around is different.
On three occasions, she and other patients learned that their doctor was leaving, but were assured that they would remain members of the clinic and be taken on by another doctor if a replacement was not found. on time.
“Every time a doctor has left, I get a letter from that doctor saying, you know, ‘It was a pleasure being your doctor, I’m moving on and you’ll be assigned a new doctor at the clinic.’ “
“Most of the time it was the one who was already there. Other times it was the one who had just arrived.”
CBC News is awaiting a response from Horizon Health Network on the number of Ugrin-affected patients leaving its practice and the health authority’s efforts to replace it.
On its website, Horizon says the center has a collaborative team of six physicians, a nurse practitioner, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and administrative support staff.
The center was formerly known as Gibson Health Center before Horizon moved its location to Brookside Mall in 2021.
Complex medical needs
Brewer said she suffered from a long list of physical and mental issues, including type 2 diabetes, hypothyroidism, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
And although Ugrin assured patients that their prescriptions would be renewed for up to a year after she left, Brewer said it was critical for her to have timely access to a primary care provider.
“My main fear is that my health will get worse while I wait to find another doctor,” she said, adding that she had already been waiting for a mental health clinician for a year.
“So now I just feel like I’m stuck.”
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