COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinics are Closing

Belleville, Ontario – Last Fall, Ontario Health provided regions across Ontario with funding to operate temporary COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinics. Locally, these clinics operated in Tweed, Belleville and Picton on a temporary basis to ensure residents had access to after-hours primary care for symptoms related to COVID-19, colds and flu during what was a challenging respiratory illness season.

Effective March 31, 2023, the COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinics in Belleville at the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre and Picton at the Prince Edward Family Health Team will close. Effective April 27, 2023 the clinic in Tweed at the Gateway Community Health Centre will also close.

COVID-19 Assessment Centres and testing locations are available throughout the region and more information can be found by visiting COVID-19 testing locations (ontario.ca).

Throughout the operation of the COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinics, many residents within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and some from neighboring communities used these clinics through a challenging respiratory illness season. These clinics provided the right care, in the right place at the right time, while helping divert patients from local emergency departments so that hospital resources were available to patients who needed them most.

The successful operation of these clinics is thanks in part to Quinte Health, Gateway Community Health Centre, Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre, Prince Edward Family Health Team and the many administrative, nursing, and primary care providers who provided human resource support.

The Hastings and Prince Edward Ontario Health Team (HPE OHT) is also grateful for the financial support provided by Ontario Health to operate these clinics. The HPE OHT recognizes the continued need for better access to primary care services in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and is continuing to work with OHT partners to address this challenge.

The following walk-in clinics are available for non-emergency health concerns to those residents without a primary care provider or residents who are unable to access their primary care provider:

Alternatively, residents are able to call 811 to connect with a registered nurse for non-emergency health care advice 24/7 and/or connect with their local pharmacists who are now able to treat 13 common ailments and renew prescriptions for most medications.