Residents in Yellowknife are being advised of reduced access to services in Primary Care Services due to lower than normal practitioner staffing for clinics at Yellowknife Primary Care and Frame Lake Community Health Clinic. To accommodate staffing levels, Yellowknife Primary Care Centre will not be offering evening clinics, 4:30pm-9:30pm between May 27th and the 30th, and June 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 9th.
No additional service impacts are expected during this time, and all other regular services will remain accessible as normal. As practitioner staff levels are anticipated to remain a challenge over the coming months, any further service level impacts will be announced as they occur.
Practitioner shortages are related to a variety of factors, including departures, extended leaves for maternity or personal matters, and reduced locum practitioners availably . A national shortage of skilled health and social services professionals is making recruitment in many areas difficult, this is particularly true in recruiting the locum staff that our system is dependent on to fill gaps and provide coverage of regular services in Primary Care and other areas of the system.
The public is being asked to remain patient towards staff members, and to provide an appropriate amount of information when booking appointments. Anyone who desperately needs help is encouraged to seek it out. While current volumes of services are reduced, NWT health and social services system staff are still working hard to provide essential services to residents each day.
