The average wait time at a Kelowna walk-in clinic is one of the longest in British Columbia.
That unfortunate stat is courtesy of the latest data from Medimap, a Canadian tech company that matches patients with walk-in clinics, pharmacists and allied health professionals.
According to Medimap data, the average wait time at a Kelowna walk-in clinic is 104 minutes, which ranks as the third worst in all of BC.
Only North Vancouver (187 minutes) and Victoria (107 minutes) have longer average wait times than Kelowna.
On the other end of the spectrum, Chilliwack (44 minutes), Abbotsford (55 minutes) and Vancouver (62 minutes) have the shortest walk-in clinic wait times in BC.
“BC has an unusual problem on its hands - recent changes to the physician payment model have resulted in some walk-in clinics actually closing, exacerbating the very problem the change was trying to address,” explained Thomas Jankowski, CEO of Medimap.
“So while some people are getting better, more encompassing care if they get rostered at a medical clinic, those without one sometimes end up suffering more.”
As you might expect from Jankowski’s comments, BC has the longest average wait time at walk-in clinics of any Canadian province.
It’s the third consecutive year that BC has topped the list.
Medimap reports that British Columbians had to wait 93 minutes to see a doctor at a walk-in clinic in 2023, which is a 14-minute increase on 2023 and 25 minutes longer than the national average.
In comparison, Manitoba and Ontario had the shortest average wait times in 2023 with patients seeing a doctor in 45 and 59 minutes respectively.
To see Medimap’s full national report on walk-in clinic wait times, click this link.
