People in Cranbrook and surrounding communities will have increased access to team-based everyday health care.
A new urgent and primary care centre (UPCC) opens Dec. 8 in Cranbrook’s Baker Street Mall, Unit 230, 1311 2nd St.
“The new UPCC in Cranbrook will offer people better access to team-based health care and allow them to receive treatment in their community,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Working in collaboration with community partners and with the support of local health-care teams, we are strengthening primary care services throughout the province. In Cranbrook and the region, this will mean regular, ongoing access to a team of primary care providers.”
The Cranbrook UPCC is a collaboration between Interior Health, the Ministry of Health, the Kootenay East Regional Hospital District, the East Kootenay Division of Family Practice and the Ktunaxa Nation. As part of the East Kootenay Primary Care Network, this UPCC will feature a co-located, team-based care hub, which hosts other team-based care supports from around the community and helps to strengthen the integration and co-ordination of primary care services throughout the region.
The UPCC will serve two purposes. The first will be providing care for people experiencing non-life-threatening conditions, such as an ankle sprain or a sore throat, who need to see a health-care provider within 12 to 24 hours, but do not require an emergency department visit. The second purpose will be attaching patients to a regular primary care provider if they do not have one.
Opening with a phased approach, the centre will be staffed by approximately 15 FTE health-care providers, including nurse practitioners, registered nurse, physiotherapists and social workers. It will offer urgent care only. From Dec. 8 -10, the centre will be open from 1:30-5:30 p.m. After that, it will open Monday to Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. As more health-care professionals are recruited, the hours of service will increase and the centre will begin offering longitudinal care.
Once fully operational by April 2022, the full team is anticipated to consist of approximately 28 full-time equivalent clinical health-care professionals, including doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, mental wellness clinicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, Aboriginal health co-ordinators and a clinical pharmacist. When fully staffed, the UPCC will be open seven days a week, 365 days a year.
The team is expected to attach more than 5,000 patients to a consistent primary care provider at the clinic or in the community.
This is the 26th UPCC that has been announced under the government's primary care strategy. Of those, seven are in the Interior Health region, including in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops, Castlegar, Penticton and Cranbrook.
Quick Facts:
- Primary care is the day-to-day health care given by a health-care provider.
- Urgent primary care is the care that people need within 12 to 24 hours, for conditions such as sprains, urinary problems, ear infections, minor cuts or burns.
- UPCCs are part of a comprehensive strategy to transform B.C.’s health system by bringing together and co-ordinating with health-care providers, services and programs to make it easier for people to access care, receive followup and connect to other services they may need.
Learn More:
To learn more about the Province’s Primary Health-care Strategy, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0034-001010
To learn more about the Province’s strategy to increase the number of nurse practitioners, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018HLTH0034-000995
To learn more about the Province’s strategy to recruit and retain more family medicine graduates, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018HLTH0052-001043
Two backgrounders follow.