An expanded Grey Bruce Virtual Urgent Care Program will offer patients a quick and convenient medical visit six days a week.
The Chief of the Owen Sound Emergency Department, Dr. Sunil Mehta, said the program allows patients to connect to a local doctor from the comfort of their home through a smart device or computer.
He said starting Thursday, it will offer services six days a week, after successfully operating four days a week over the summer
"The expansion is to help us alleviate some of the pressures on the emergency departments in Grey Bruce. The Virtual Urgent Care has been very successful in helping patients with minor issues that can be dealt with virtually, to avoid have to travel and wait in an emergency department," he explained. "So expanding it gives us that option of trying to help other patients or more patients defer or avoid emergency department visits in a time when wait time are excessively long and our departments are overburdened by the volumes that we're having."
Virtual Urgent Care Wait times currently sit at approximately 35 minutes per patient, while the average consultation takes under 20 minutes.
The service opened in March for four days a week, and saw an average of 10 to 13 patients. Patients can receive medical advice, prescriptions and sick notes when appropriate.
However, people should still go to the emergency room for serious issues like chest pain, severe illness, trauma, or injury disabling part of the body.
Mehta said although virtual urgent care programs are running in other parts of the province, the Grey Bruce program is unique in that it shares the patients electronic records with emergency departments throughout the region.
"So anytime a patient is seen in our virtual urgent clinic, those notes are then visible in an emergency department, if the patient needs to go to the emergency department," he explained.