Shock in the Sault as 10K people stand to lose health-care provider in May

Group Health Centre in Sault Ste. Marie is reducing its patient roster by 10,000 people in May because of a severe and chronic shortage of physicians.

GHC currently cares for 60,000 patients, but the centre said Thursday it is being forced into the reductions because of the shortage of both physicians and nurse practitioners.

“With its unique healthcare model, GHC has sheltered our region from the nationwide primary care provider shortages that other communities have experienced,” the centre said in a statement on its website.

“This trend is not unique to our community. The rate of new providers entering the field has not kept pace with retirements, and many existing primary care providers face burnout.”

As a result, “this situation is no longer sustainable,” GHC said, forcing them to reduce its patient roster.

Directly affected are patients whose primary care provider has left or retired recently. They will be taken off the patient roster as of May 31.

“To ensure that every impacted individual is informed as quickly as possible, each patient will receive a detailed letter with more information,” GHC said.

“We recognize the profound effect this will have on our patients, their loved ones, and the broader community.”

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Longer term, the centre said it looked forward to “working with our community partners and the Ministry of Health to build additional capacity for the future.”

“We recognize the scale of the challenge before us. We are confident that, working together with our elected government representatives, we can find solutions for our community.”