Britt, Ont., residents shocked after sudden closure of local nurse practitioner clinic

The closure of the West Parry Sound Health Centre's nurse practitioner-led clinic in Britt, Ont., has left the local community reeling. 

"I was shocked, as was everybody else who heard about it, because there was never any heads up or discussion or nothing. It just came out of the blue," said Estelle Montpellier, a patient at the clinic, located about 100 kilometres south of Sudbury. 

Montpellier relies on the local clinic, just a 10-minute drive from her home, for blood work and prescription refills. 

Now she'd have to travel to another clinic run by the health centre located 30 kilometres south in Pointe au Baril. Montpellier said she's "not happy" that she'll have to drive on Highway 69. 

"It's probably the worst section of Highway 69 and there are frequently accidents. And once you go to Pointe au Baril, you don't know if you can come back, because there's no alternate roads," Montpellier said, referring to frequent road closures that are primarily caused by collisions. 

Local leaders say closure came without warning 

Stephen Wohleber, the chair of the committee that owns and operates the clinic building, said the community is "in a state of shock" since there had never been any indication from the health centre that the clinic was in trouble. 

"How could this happen in the first place, and why us? I mean, we've been very successful and we have a great reputation throughout our history," Wohleber said. 

The CEO of the West Parry Sound Health Centre, Donald Sanderson, told CBC News Wednesday the clinic hasn't had a permanent nurse practitioner since the last one retired three years ago, and said the clinic could no longer keep making do.

He said the clinic has about 340 rostered patients who will be taken care of at the new facility in Pointe au Baril. 

But Wohleber argues there are many more patients who rely on the clinic.

"When Mr. Sanderson mentions 340, those are the rostered patients at the Britt clinic. There would be more, but without a full-time nurse practitioner they refused to roster any more people," he said. 

"Prior to 2022 our facility would handle 700 patient visits per month. You don't get that from 300 people. You know they're not showing up three times in a month."

He said the clinic also serves visitors to Grundy Lake Provincial Park, marine cruisers, and emergency responders like the Canadian Coast Guard's search and rescue team.

Wohleber added that the area has had access to primary care for 50 years, and said removing those services is "shocking and incomprehensible."

Province says it didn't approve the move

To help ease the transition, Sanderson said advanced care paramedics will be able to visit patients and that virtual care through telemedicine remains available.

Harold Themer, director of the local services board for Britt and Byng Inlet, said he was also surprised by the announcement. He called a community meeting to hear how people are feeling.

"I hope to get the pulse of the community, which at this moment is quite hot. They're very disappointed, and you might even say that to some extent hostile," Themer said. 

"Having said that, we need to see where the community is on this, what they believe should be done."

In a statement, Ontario's Ministry of Health said the West Parry Sound Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic made the decision to reduce services in Britt without ministry approval. 

The ministry said it's working with the clinic "with the goal of ensuring services continue to be delivered at their Britt location."

"I find it frustrating that our good premier Doug Ford is spearheading the betterment of supplying medical services for the near north and north of Ontario, and parallel right beside him, there is the CEO of the hospital who starts closing things down. This just doesn't work. It's a slap in the face of our political system. It's wrong," Themer said. 

In a follow-up interview Thursday, Sanderson said the nurse practitioner clinic is funded by the Ministry of Health, but argued that asking for permission to close services was not necessary.

"If there's nobody to provide the service, it seems to me to be redundant to request permission," he said. 

"We're not happy about the fact that there isn't anyone available to provide the service, so we're working together with all of our partners to do our best to recruit somebody into that position."

As of late Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Health had not responded to CBC's request for comment. Sanderson said efforts are ongoing to recruit a nurse practitioner to eventually reopen the clinic.