With the focus on mental health and substance use programs, Northern Health is reviewing downtown Prince George health services.
Those services include the HIV/AIDS prevention program, which is the needle exchange, and how to improve access and efficiency while learning if a service model with more than one location would better serve the community.
Because there have been so many recent fentanyl overdoses, there is now an overdose prevention site downtown, which is also under scrutiny.
Service partners will be included in the conversation as the review is underway with conclusions being presented in a report by this summer.
All health services will be included in the review that Northern Health provides by staffing the programs, as well as those that are funded by the health authority or contracted by them.
Northern Health has assembled an advisory group that includes members of the RCMP, BC Housing, First Nations Health Authority, Downtown PG and the City of Prince George.
"Health services are one area where improvements can be made for people with mental health, substance use and other health issues," said
Dr. Andrew Gray, Northern Health's Northern Interior Medical Health Officer.
"I am pleased we will receive advice from community leaders into health services while also having the opportunity to engage them in a bigger conversation about what each agency can do to contribute to the well-being of people in the community who need it most."
