Media Contacts

Jen Holmwood

Deputy Communications Director,
Press Secretary
Office of the Premier
250 818-4881

Ministry of Health

Communications
250 952-1887 (media line)

Backgrounders

REACH Urgent and Primary Care Centre in East Vancouver

The new REACH Urgent and Primary Care Centre in East Vancouver is a partnership between the Ministry of Health, the REACH Community Health Centre, Providence Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, the Vancouver Division of Family Practice and Doctors of BC.

  • The REACH Urgent and Primary Care Centre will improve access to care through extended weekend and evening hours. Once it is fully operational in October 2019, it will be open seven days a week, 365 days per year; Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Sundays and statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • The most urgent patients will be treated first.
  • Approximately 57,000 residents in East Vancouver and the surrounding communities report not having a primary care provider.
  • Annual staffing and operating costs are projected at approximately $2.65 million. One-time costs are estimated at $1.48 million.
  • Using a team-based care model, urgent and primary care centres identify unattached patients and support them until they are connected to the most appropriate provider in the community. They also provide:
    • extended hours of care (evenings/weekends/holidays);
    • basic in-office urgent care services (e.g., sprains and simple fractures, minor cuts requiring stitches, minor burns, rapid access to mental health and substance use crisis intervention services);
    • assessment and treatment for minor illnesses (e.g., earaches, abdominal pain, skin rashes or infections, urinary tract infections); and
    • on-site or close access to diagnostic imaging and laboratory services (e.g., electrocardiograms, X-rays, blood tests)
  • Primary care is the everyday basic health care given by a health-care provider. Urgent primary care is the care that people need within 12 to 24 hours.  
  • Approximately 40% of visits made to area emergency departments could be dealt with in alternative settings, including an urgent and primary care centre.
  • UPCCs are part of a comprehensive strategy to transform B.C.’s health system by bringing together and co-ordinating with health-care providers, services and programs to make it easier for people to access care, receive followup and connect to other services they may need.
  • This is the second UPCC to open in Vancouver, following the City Centre Urgent and Primary Care Centre, which opened in November 2018.