L-R: Loyal Wooldridge, Chair – Central Okanagan Regional Hospital District; Susan Brown, IH president & CEO; Adrian Dix, Minister of Health; Tom Dyas, Mayor of Kelowna; Renee Merrifield, MLA for Kelowna-Mission; Norm Letnick, MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country.
KELOWNA – A new team based urgent and primary care centre (UPCC), opening in fall 2023 at 110 Hwy. 33 W in Rutland.
It is anticipated that the health-care team will include 31.3 full-time-equivalent jobs, including family doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, physiotherapists and life-skills workers. Patients will be seen by the team of health-care providers and will be able to self-refer to the UPCC for care.
“This new urgent and primary-care centre will provide much needed health-care services in the fast-growing urban centre of Rutland and is a welcomed step forward in building a healthier Kelowna. The regional hospital district fully supports every effort to elevate health services closer to where residents live. We are so pleased to see that the Province is continuing to invest in facilities to keep up with growth here, and we look forward to realizing positive results in the fastest-growing community in Canada,” said Loyal Wooldridge, chair of the Central Okanagan Regional Hospital District.
The centre will serve two purposes. The first is to provide urgent primary-care services to people living in the community who need to see a health-care provider within 12 to 24 hours, but do not require going to the emergency department, such as patients with sprains, cuts, high fevers and minor infections. Starting in fall 2023, care will be available from 9:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., seven days a week.
The second purpose is to help attach more patients to the clinic to provide ongoing team-based primary-care services, including mental health.
“Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC is pleased to see that the knowledge, skills and expertise of the entire health-care team will be utilized to improve access to health care for all British Columbians through urgent and primary-care clinics. We believe that this approach will be pivotal in ensuring B.C. families can access health-care services, and we are excited to see the opening of another urgent and primary-care clinic in BC,” said Alix Arndt, CEO of the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC.
Interior Health will operate the UPCC and collaborate with the Central Okanagan Division of Family Practice to integrate the UPCC into the Rutland/Lake Country Primary Care Network, as part of the larger Central Okanagan Primary Care Network.
With the opening of the Rutland UPCC, there will be 32 UPCCs operating in the province, with nine in the Interior Health region. The other UPCCs in the region are Vernon, Kamloops, Kelowna, Castlegar, West Kelowna, Cranbrook, Penticton and Ashcroft.
In addition to this new urgent primary-care centre, a community health centre (CHC) for Rutland is under development through a partnership between the Okanagan Family Medicine and Community Health Centre Society, Central Okanagan Primary Care Network and the Ministry of Health in order to provide improved access to team-based, longitudinal primary-care services.
Community health centres are community-governed, not-for-profit organizations with services tailored to meet the health needs of the community they serve. The community health centre would be governed and operated by Okanagan Family Medicine and Community Health Centre Society, with support from Interior Health and the Ministry of Health.
Like the Rutland UPCC, the proposed Rutland CHC would be part of the Central Okanagan Primary Care Network. More details about the community health centre will be provided in the weeks ahead.
This is a part of government’s ongoing work to make it easier for people to access health-care services. In August 2022, in partnership with Doctors of BC, the Province announced $118 million for family doctors to help patients get continued care. In October 2022, the Province announced a new physician master agreement and compensation model as a part of B.C.’s health human resource strategy.
Business Examiner Staff