By Adam Frisk Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Highlands’ residents and visitors will soon have more options to bypass the emergency room for minor ailments, allowing for them to be assessed and treated.
Pharmacies will soon be able to assess nine additional minor ailments and administer six newly-funded vaccines. Pharmasave – Haliburton Village Pharmacy is set to launch dedicated clinic days starting in June. The initiative will allow for a relief pharmacist every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., freeing the primary pharmacist to conduct private, 20-minute patient consultations which are funded by the provincial government.
“My relief pharmacist is going to be here every Wednesday so that I can be available for one-on-one consultations with patients,” Lauren Wilson, pharmacist and owner of the Haliburton Pharmasave, said in a recent interview. “So any of the minor ailments, some of them are a little bit more urgent than others, meaning people can come in on other days of the week, but if it’s something that can wait till a Wednesday, then I can really devote one-on-one time to the patient in a private clinic area and provide an assessment and medication reviews.”
The provincial rollout, beginning July 1, allows pharmacists to assess nine additional minor ailments, bringing the total to 28 common conditions, and administer six newly funded vaccines. The expansion includes assessments for dry eye, warts, and ringworm. It also includes funding for tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, shingles, pneumococcal, and RSV immunizations.
‘It definitely doesn’t fix the gap but will relieve pressure”
However, Wilson explained that the anticipated rollout for in-pharmacy rapid strep throat testing and assessment has been delayed for at least a few months, likely into the fall or early 2027.
“Strep throat is going to be further down the road because it is stepping into a realm that pharmacists haven’t really gone before,” she said, adding that it will require a physical assessment, such as palpating lymph nodes, to properly distinguish bacterial infections from viral sore throats.
The expansion comes as the County begins to see the arrival of seasonal residents and visitors, and pharmacies are urging people to use them as a primary point of contact for minor ailments.
“I try to tell people to leave the emergency rooms for true emergencies,” Wilson said.
While the provincial government has framed the scope expansion as a way to ease pressure on the health-care system, Wilson said it is not a complete remedy for Ontario’s medical shortages.
“It definitely doesn’t fix the gap,” the pharmacist said. “But it will relieve at least a bit of the pressure from the local physicians and the urgent care centre in Minden. If everybody works to their full capacity, it can only benefit the community.”
The province also directed regulatory colleges for other health professionals, including optometrists, physiotherapists, and chiropractors, to begin developing frameworks for future scope expansions.
