Yellowknife (Sep 08/06) - For almost a year now, Yellowknife Health and Social Services has been running a patient hotline -- a service to help new residents find out which physicians in town are accepting patients.

When calling the hotline (920-3335), residents can hear the names, sex, phone number and clinic location of doctors in the city who are currently taking on new patients.

The hotline currently lists three doctors, but is changed weekly depending on availability at clinics.

At this time, the hotline is only available in English. When asked if the service was also available in French, CEO of Yellowknife Health and Social Services, Greg Cummings, said that it isn't, but it "was something we need to address."

When the hotline was initially set up, posters were put up around the city to make residents aware of the new service.

Cummings said that the hotline has been a success and that he has received feedback from clinics, saying they have acquired new patients through the hotline.

Vivian Squires, however, who works at the Yellowknife Seniors' Society, had never heard of the patient hotline until last month.

In addition, none of the seniors she works with had ever heard of the hotline, she said.

Nonetheless, Squires thinks the hotline is "perfect for people moving into Yellowknife."

While Yellowknife has dealt with a shortage of doctors in the past -- mostly due to turnover -- the city is currently "100 per cent staffed," according to Cummings.

He said that Yellowknife "is probably better off than most jurisdictions in Canada" when it comes to having enough doctors.

He attributes this to the fact that the city offers a lifestyle that attracts doctors. Incentives are also offered to incoming doctors.

A combination of permanent and short-term staff ensure that all residents have access to a physician, he said. Most southern Canadian cities and towns are currently facing a shortfall of doctors, making a patient hotline, like Yellowknife's, unfeasible, he said.