A week has passed since the Peninsula B次元官网网址 Review reported on a actively recruiting more patients. To date, the story posted to the PNR Facebook page has been shared 250 times, providing insight into the need for more doctors on the Peninsula and the benefits of walk-in clinics.

Katie Thompson, manager of the Bayside Medical Centre family practice and walk-in clinic, said more than half the patients that have come to the walk-in clinic this past week are new. The clinic is able to track this through a computerized system.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a direct result of the story you guys did,B次元官网网址� Thompson told the PNR. B次元官网网址淩ight after the online article was published we had a huge surge of phone calls.B次元官网网址�

The clinic was also inundated with phone calls from people asking if the family practice is accepting new patients.

People on the Peninsula are desperate for doctors, but a walk-in clinic is different than a family medicine practice. While the Bayside Medical Centre in Brentwood Bay is actively seeking more walk ins, the two physicians of the family practice side B次元官网网址� Sienna Bourdon and Mark Sherman B次元官网网址� have full family practices and are not currently accepting new patients. Both Bourdon and Sherman work shifts in the CentreB次元官网网址檚 walk-in clinic.

People are encouraged to use the walk in as their medical home B次元官网网址� one, consistent facility patients can visit that tracks their medical history and provides the same level of care a family practice would B次元官网网址� until more physicians are recruited.

But before physicians can be recruited, the walk-in clinic needs to be sustainable.

B次元官网网址淪ome people donB次元官网网址檛 want to jump aboard a ship thatB次元官网网址檚 not sailing well,B次元官网网址� said Thompson.

Simply put, busy walk-in clinics attract physicians.

The original story generated several online comments from people questioning the need for a walk in.

Walk-in clinics serve people with a variety of different medical backgrounds.

The PNR also spoke with Dr. Andre Du Toit, whoB次元官网网址檚 been practicing at the only other walk in in Central Saanich for nearly 20 years B次元官网网址� the Central Saanich Medical Clinic. Du Toit said he suspects around one third of his walk-in patients already have a general practitioner (GP), but are visiting the walk in because they canB次元官网网址檛 book an immediate appointment with their GP due to busy schedules or holiday. He said another third are his own patients, while the final third are people without a doctor.

Thompson said she wants to thank the community, who she said has since banded together to support the clinic at 7226 West Saanich Rd., Brentwood Bay.

B次元官网网址淓veryone wants this situation B次元官网网址� of not having a family doctor B次元官网网址� to be more bearable,B次元官网网址� Thompson said.

The Bayside Medical Centre is open Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Both Bourdon and Sherman said clinic hours would expand once an added demand is established.

The print version of the original story was published in the June 9 edition.