Central Okanagan residents will have better access to a variety of different treatments thanks to a new urgent and primary care centre about to open in Kelowna.
Interior Health has leased a standalone property in the city that will start seeing patients seven days a week, even on statutory holidays.
"The new urgent and primary care centre will help connect more people in Kelowna and the surrounding communities with the health care they need, when they need it," said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health.
Dix says the new care centre will help thousands of residents in the area that don’t currently have a primary care provider.
The Kelowna Urgent Primary Care Centre will have registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, social workers, respiratory therapists and physiotherapists.
It’ll also recruit the full-time equivalent of five general practitioner and two nurse practitioner positions to treat patients.
In total, the centre will employ the equivalent of 22 full-time employees and have an annual operating cost of $4.2 million.
"The new urgent and primary care centre will make a big difference in the lives of Kelowna-area residents looking for local access to health-care services,” explained Doug Cochrane, board chair of Interior Health.
The centre is expected to start seeing patients in late December and will provide more than 60,000 additional patient visits per year.
This is the second urgent and primary care centre to open in Interior Health’s jurisdiction.
In June 2018, the first opened in Kamloops and it’s already served 9,300 patient visits.
It'll be located in the north end of the Capri Centre.
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