Eye specialist says bureaucrats may force end to clinic he's run since 1988

An eye specialist who speaks French and has been providing care to Chticamp residents for decades says health bureaucrats have withdrawn the supports he needs to run the clinic in the Cape Breton Acadian community.

Dr. John Hamilton has offered the monthly service since 1988 and travels in from Antigonish. But the servicewill end, the ophthalmologist said, unless the Nova Scotia Health Authority reverses its decision to take away a licensed practical nurse and restrict the work of a registered nurse at the clinic.

"With no support, basically it is not cost-effective for me to absorb the costs of the clinic and travel two and a half hours to Chticampand back and stay overnight," Hamilton said in an interview.

"It would reduce the ability to see patients from approximately 50 per day to maybe 20 or 15."

Told of cuts before Christmas

Hamilton runs the clinic out of Chticamp'sSacred Heart Community Health Centre. He saidstaff nurses normally administer eye drops and conduct other basic eye tests before he sees patients.

But he said he was told by a health authority administratorthe week before Christmas that anLPN would no longer be available to him and the RN would no longer be allowed to enter patient information electronically.

He seesit as a purely cost-cutting measure with no regard for patient care.

"I don't like it because I've been doing this clinic for 30 years and trying to facilitate the access [to]populations that have been disadvantaged by distance."

Closing the clinic, he said, willmean his patients would have to travel for the specialty services.

"It is two and a half hours to Antigonish. It's about two hours and 15 minutes to Sydney," he said. "Many people wouldn't be able to go."

Francophone patients

Hamilton said his patients are predominantly seniors, and if they have visual problems they are not able to drive themselves. They would have to depend on family members or friends to get to appointments, and Hamilton worries "people would just not come."

Hamilton also seesit as a blow to the francophoneswho live in Chticamp.

In a blistering Dec. 18email to the administrator who informed him of the cuts, Hamilton wrote:"You have therefore bureaucratically ended these clinics and again marginalized a francophonepopulation from specialty care sourced locally in an official language which I have tried to provide in partnership with the community for thirty years."

ButDr. WarrenWilkes,the Nova Scotia Health Authority's medical director for the area that includesChticamp, was optimistic the "appropriate resources" couldbe found to keep the clinic open.

He said thedecision to reassign the nurses at the clinic was based on the fact that they are primary care staff doingspecialtymedicine.

"I think with discussions with the health authority, we'll be able to find some appropriate nurses andLPNsto work and we're very focused and willing to keep this going," he toldCBCNews in a telephone interview from Sydney.

Hamilton has a clinic in Chticamp planned for next Wednesday. He also plans to meet with administrators to see if there's a way to restore the support he needs to keep the clinic going.