At a Halifax clinic, long lines and disappointment are frequent. Staff do what they can

There are about 20 people lined up at 7:30 a.m. outside the Clayton Park Medical Clinic in Halifax. It's a mid-week morning.

Some are here for the first time. Some were here the day before and didn't get in. The door will open in an hour and some already in line won't be seen.

"It's usually really, really busy," says Danita Collicutt, who is a support worker for people with brain injuries.

It's just an ordinary day at the clinic, and similar to so many stories around Halifax.

Tens of thousands of Nova Scotians don't have a family doctor or primary health-care provider, so they rely on walk-in clinics when they get sick or need a prescription.

Most walk-in clinics are independent, so Nova Scotia Health doesn't receive any of their visit volume information.

As of Dec. 1, 125,278 Nova Scotians are on the Need a Family Practice Registry. In the central zone, which includes Halifax, it's 53,100 people in need of a primary health-care provider.

Nova Scotia Health launched mobile health clinics in November to address strain on a health-care system that is leaving emergency rooms in some parts of the province beyond capacity, but walk-in clinics are still having to turn people away.

Collicutt is at the clinic with two clients who may or may not get the care they need.

"If you're not here two hours before, then you're not getting in and it's really common where they have to physically turn people away because they don't have the space. So it happens quite frequently," she said.

After a few minutes, a woman from inside the clinic walks out with a handful of cards. She tries to console all of those who've been waiting, but she only has so many cards to hand out.

If you don't get a card, you go home.

"It's heartbreaking," says Donna Henneberry, who works in the clinic.

She's been there for eight years and struggles when she's asked to explain her job. She's part office manager, part receptionist and greeter. On days like this, she is the bearer of bad news.

"They're out there in the cold for an hour because they want to be seen, and that's the only way to ensure they're going to be seen."

There's no triage system in lineups like this one. Just a deck of red cards. If you get one, you'll see the doctor. If you don't, you don't.

Henneberry has a card for everyone in the line except one young woman at the end. The woman protests. "I'm just one person," she says.

Henneberry tells her story again the next day. This has been her daily routine here for months.

Patients line up outside. But inside there's only one doctor, Umar Haider. He and his two support staff work six days a week in this clinic. Usually they're 12-hour days.

"I don't know who can change this," Henneberry says. "But, man, somebody's got to change it quick. They come in and they ask, 'Where can I go?' Well, I don't know where to send them."

'I usually end up not getting in'

There's been a spike in respiratory illness all over the region, but Henneberry said she's not seeing much of that. At least, she says, that's not what's causing the long lines every day.

When patients walk in the door, medical staff have no idea what to expect.

"All different things," Henneberry says. "We don't know. We don't know what their ailments are when they come in here now."

This morning is Dennis Hall's second time in two days waiting in the line. The day before he showed up when the doors opened and was turned away. This time he arrived two hours early.

"I usually end up not getting in," he says. "It's happened a couple of times. So I actually came here yesterday and so I just said I'd come here earlier today and see if I could actually get him this time." This time he made it.

More doctors inside would speed things along, he said. But the city is growing, too.

"I feel like it's a combination of Halifax expanding. Yeah, just more people, really."