Oshawa Clinic to move to Whitby soon

The walk-in clinic in Downtown Oshawa is about to close up shop and move to Whitby.

The move was announced nearly three years ago when Whitby broke ground on the four-storey, 154,000-square-foot Whitby Health Centre. The new clinic sits on the corner of Des Newman Blvd. and Bonacord Ave. on the west side of the town.

All told, the new location is about 20 kilometres from the old, resulting in a 20-minute drive. However, the new location is not well-serviced by Durham Region Transit. From Downtown Oshawa, bus riders would have more than an hour-long trip across three buses to get to the new clinic.

However, the location of the new clinic is expected to be one of the fastest-growing in the region over the next few years. In total Durham is expected to reach 1.5 million people by 2051, more than double the current amount. Whitby in particular is expected to grow 40 per cent over the next decade.

As a result of its central location, Whitby has become home to a few major healthcare projects to support the population boom. This includes being selected as the site for the seventh Lakeridge Health hospital. However, that project has stalled amid the province’s failure to provide needed funding for the last few years.

The new clinic will host 85 physicians, including family doctors and specialists in cardiology, physiotherapy, fertility, men’s health, audiology and psychology, among other disciplines.

The Oshawa Clinic Group was founded in the city in 1927 by University of Toronto graduates Dr. Grant Bird and Dr. Oscar G. Mills. After adding a couple more doctors their pair opened the current office at 117 King St. E. in 1948.

The clinic greatly expanded in 1978 into the current tower, hosting 40 doctors at the time. It expanded twice more in the mid-1980s to its current size. During the 2021 groundbreaking, the town announced the clinic would move when its lease expired in spring 2024 after nearly 100 years in Oshawa. However, the city will still host the Taunton Medical Centre, which is home to 16 doctors.

The current building is still in the process of getting a heritage property designation.