One of the Sunshine Coast’s medical clinics will be closing its doors at the end of the year.
On July 11, the Sunshine Coast Division of Family Practice announced the physicians from the Sechelt Medical Clinic will be moving from 5531 Inlet Ave. to the Cowrie Medical Clinic as of Dec. 31.
Patients of Dr. Baxter, Dr. Bryson Dr. McDowell, Dr. Philippson and Dr. Skorniakov will be served from the Cowrie St. location as of Jan. 1, 2024, the post states.
But the unattached patients previously helped at the Sechelt Medical Clinic will not be able to receive care at the Cowrie Clinic. Those patients are asked to register at https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-connect-registry/sunshine-coast to be contacted when a healthcare provider becomes available.
“Sechelt Medical Clinic has been providing medical care to our community for 55 years. Regrettably, the Clinic has lost seven doctors in the past few years due to retirement or relocation. Because of the physician nationwide shortage our clinic has not been able to replace those physicians,” the announcement said.
The move comes after three family physicians left Sechelt Medical Clinic last fall. One retired with a replacement lined up, while the other two doctors moved off Coast. In August, 16 local physicians wrote a letter to the province pleading for help — and funds — while citing the difficulties of recruiting and retaining family doctors.
Within two weeks after sending that letter, Sunshine Coast doctors received the news that Ministry of Health and Doctors of B.C. were injecting $118 million in short-term funding to help family doctors across the province keep their doors open to patients.
The idea to merge the clinics together was also raised at the time, but Cowrie Medical Clinic said it didn’t have enough space.
