Surrey to have first of 10 primary-care centres in B.C.

The facility would divert patients from emergency rooms when they don’t need to be there.

SURREY, B.C. — British Columbia’s premier has announced the opening of 10 urgent primarycare centres across the province over the next year

The first will be in Surrey, opening this fall.

John Horgan says the facilities will be staffed with health-care providers including doctors, registered nurses, nurse practitioners and dietitians.

He says nearly 78,000 residents in Surrey lack a family doctor, and they will be able to access care at the centre from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the facility would divert patients from emergency rooms when they don’t need to be there.

He says people without a family doctor would be connected with general practitioners and others at the facility and sometimes referred to the centre from other health-care providers in the community.

Dix says one in six people in the province do not have a family doctor, and the team-based approach is a more appropriate model of care because people may not always need a physician for their health concerns.

He announced earlier this week that the province would provide funding for 50 new clinical pharmacists over the next three years. Some of them would be working with primary-care teams.

“We’re going to have four doctors, we’re going to have two nurse practitioners here, and seven registered nurses,” he told a news conference outside a building where the centre will be built.

“The principal idea here is to provide excellent primary care and an additional option to primary care.”

The province said in a news release that the centre would also be involved in outreach services by connecting nurses to community locations, such as shelters.

When it’s fully staffed, the facility could accommodate up to 1,300 patient visits per week, it says.

The team-based model of care has been used for years in other provinces, including Alberta and Ontario.