Harbourside Health Centre patients being transferred to new providers or temporarily provided free access to virtual service

Health PEI says there’s currently a shortage of physicians and nurse practitioners at the Harbourside Health Centre in Summerside – as a result, patients are being reassigned to new providers in the area to maintain service, while approximately 700 will temporarily be without an in-person provider over the next one to four months.  Andrew MacDougall, Executive Director of Community Health and Seniors Care with Health PEI, says that for the past two years, staff at the Harbourside Health Centre Patient Medical Home have provided care to more than 4,500 patients, despite the departure of three physicians and ongoing recruitment challenges.  MacDougall says that while the small team at Harbourside has been going above and beyond to support the healthcare needs of the centre, the staff can’t continue at that pace, it’s not sustainable.  While most patients will be accommodated immediately, a total of approximately 700 patients will not have an in-person healthcare provider right away, as they are gradually assigned to new health care providers. In the meantime, these patient will have access to virtual care through the Health PEI Virtual Care program, beginning Monday.