As of 1 p.m. today (June 5), the Northern Health Authority has officially opened the doors of its second Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) in the region.
Located in Prince George’s Parkwood Mall, Suite 143, this clinic is operating under the B.C. government’s primary health-care strategy and was announced in the northern capital back in April by Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
But with the ‘addition’ comes the closure of the Nechako Medical Clinic in the Spruceland Mall. The Nechako Medical Clinic posted a notice on its doors announcing the closure for regular visitors. This poses the question - why?
“So what we’re doing is building on that service they’ve been providing and adding to it additional services that will be developed over the next few weeks,” said Penny Anguish, Chief Operating Officer for Northern Health in an interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters, confirming they are relocating 35 practitioners from Nechako Medical to the UPCC.
She says this will allow them to manage more complex issues and patients.
"Being able to provide that expanded service has required a different space; we needed a larger space to be able to do that and then we decided to make the move. So they are relocating to the Urgent and Primary Care Centre so we can provide that expanded service to the people that need those same-day expanded services for their health issues.”
The clinic that served local residents for 25 years was the only drop-in facility in the city with evening hours until the new one in Parkwood opened this afternoon.
Anguish realizes the detail of Nechako Medical’s move wasn’t mentioned at the government’s news conference on April 17, but clarifies they are included in the UPCC collaboration.
“Yes we’re moving, but we’re moving to expanded service," says Anguish. "We’re doing a great deal by having this collaborative model and working together to provide the level of service in an after-hours setting. What the service is addressing is an on-going issue with people being able to access next-day primary care, because even if they’re attached to a primary care provider sometimes it's still challenging to get an appointment.”
The UPCC will have its doors open as late as 9 p.m. Monday to Friday:
- Monday and Tuesday - 4 to 9 p.m.
- Wednesday to Friday - 1 to 9 p.m.
- Saturdays and Sundays - 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Located next to Mucho Burrito, the clinic will be used as a drop-in resource for people with non-life threatening conditions, but need a doctor in 12-24 hours | #CityOfPG #HealthNews @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/CTSLUsop4v
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) June 5, 2019
The Urgent and Primary Care Centre is expecting 8,000 new patient visits each year once at full capacity by the Fall.
It will also have physicians and nurses supported by mental health and substance use clinicians and follow-up care is expected to be coordinated through appointments with the appropriate clinician or service.
When asked about having multiple medical clinics open that have extended hours in the city, Anguish said keeping them fully staffed would be a tall order.
“The challenge in all northern and rural communities is that you only have a certain number of physicians that provide that service,” she says.
“Of course, we’re always recruiting based on the needs, but to be able to provide urgent and primary care after hours on those extended hours, you’re going on the same workforce, if you will. So, we’re taking an approach where we’re splitting up that workforce but expecting all of those hours to be covered and it just creates a challenge in terms of having enough people."
Two months ago during the province’s announcement at the Prince George Public Library, Horgan also introduced a new Primary Care Network (PCN).
This is set to recruit and prep up to 30 new healthcare providers in the next three years.
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