Urgent-care centre should go on Westside: council

W. Kelowna city manager to speak with Health Minister Adrian Dix today

An urgent care centre touted for Kelowna should go to the Westside instead, West Kelowna council says.

Medical services need to be improved in the community of 50,000, councillors say, and building an urgent-care centre there would relieve pressure on Kelowna General Hospital.

“They’re now spending money on parking that should go to health care,” Mayor Doug Findlater said. “If we can keep some people away from KGH, we’re doing health care a big favour.”

Many communities with a much smaller population than West Kelowna — such as Summerland and Oliver — already have urgent care centres, city manager Jim Zaffino told council.

Zaffino also said Health Minister Adrian Dix had agreed to speak with him on today about the possibility of West Kelowna getting an urgent care centre. The issue came up at Tuesday’s council meeting because Zaffino needed a resolution from council to have that conversation.

“It would be foolish not to walk through this door,” Coun. Rick De Jong said as council unanimously passed the resolution. “Our community health issues aren’t going away. If we can get this up and running, all the better. We need it.”

West Kelowna has long lobbied for an urgent care facility. Interior Health owns a large property in downtown Westbank that was once proposed for such a centre, but planning directions subsequently changed.

One reason an urgent care facility dropped down the priority list was the proliferation in recent years of walk-in clinics and doctors’ offices on the Westside, which were said to have significantly improved healthcare services in the area.

However, the Central Okanagan regional district still has $2 million in a reserve fund earmarked for capital spending on health care projects on the Westside.

The NDP government is committed to creating more urgent care facilities around the province.

At such centres, doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals work as a team, though the level of services offered is much narrower than in a hospital.

In early April, Dix told The Daily Courier that Kelowna would be an “ideal community” for an urgent care facility. He did not provide a timeline for the announcement of such a facility, but said one would be forthcoming.

During last year’s provincial election, NDP Leader John Horgan said urgent care centres were needed to “relieve pressure on emergency rooms”.

Almost one-third of Westsiders are over age 60, Zaffino said, noting older people tend to have more health issues.

An urgent care facility in West Kelowna would also provide quicker medical treatment for people injured in vehicle crashes on the Okanagan Connector, Zaffino suggested.

West Kelowna will try to get letters of support for an urgent care facility on the Westside from councils representing Peachland and Westbank First Nation. At the suggestion of Coun. Rosalind Neis, Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran will also be asked to support the idea.

“We can ask him to endorse us,” Neis said. “If they don’t, they don’t. But we might be pleasantly surprised.”