PENTICTON, B.C. — Work is nearly complete on a new urgent and primary care centre (UPCC) for B.C. residents living in and near Penticton. The facility is scheduled to open March 31.
“The new UPCC in Penticton will offer people better access to the health care they need, when they need it,” said Adrian Dix, minister of health, in a statement. “With the support of local health-care teams, our primary care strategy is leveraging community collaboration to strengthen primary care services throughout the province. In Penticton, this means more people, including those living in poverty, those with mental health and substance use concerns, and families and seniors with complex care needs can access same-day, everyday health care and get attached to a primary care provider if they do not have one.”
The facility’s new team will first provide long-term primary care services for people with mental health and substance use needs. These services include complex care management, mental health and substance use health care, opioid treatment and women’s health. The centre intends to gradually add more staff.
Once fully staffed, the UPCC will offer urgent and primary care services that do not require an ER visit, such as patients with sprains, cuts, high fevers and minor infections.
The UPCC will also assist in connecting patients without a primary care provider to a family doctor or nurse practitioner either at the centre or in the community.
It is the 23rd UPCC announced under B.C.’s primary care strategy. Twenty of those projects are open. Of those, six are in the Interior Health region, including in Kelowna, Vernon, West Kelowna, Kamloops, Castlegar and Penticton.
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