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Media Contacts

Office of the Premier

Jen Holmwood
Press Secretary
Deputy Communications Director
Office of the Premier
Jen.Holmwood@gov.bc.ca
250 818-4881

Ministry of Health

Communications
250 952-1887 (media line)

Fraser Health

Communications
media@fraserhealth.ca
604 450-7881

Backgrounders

Ridge Meadows Urgent and Primary Care Centre

The new, permanent and expanded Ridge Meadows UPCC includes the following:

  • The UPCC will be located at Unit 7/8 at Haney Place Mall, 11900 Haney Place, Maple Ridge.
  • The UPCC will provide improved access to care through extended weekend and evening hours.
  • The UPCC will be open seven days a week, 365 days a year.
  • People can self-refer for their urgent and primary care needs. Patients can also be referred by community service providers, other health-care professionals and agencies.
  • People can schedule appointments. During busy periods, appointments will be prioritized based on urgency.
  • Patients requiring laboratory testing beyond the simple specimen collection will be provided with requisitions for lab tests to be completed at nearby laboratories.
  • The UPCC is an integral part of the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows primary care network catchment (population approximately 110,000).
  • Of the total catchment population, 18,713 or 17% are considered unattached.
  • In 2018-19, approximately 43% visits at the emergency department by Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows residents were triaged as non-emergency at the Meadows Hospital and Health Care Centre. Many of these non-urgent conditions could have been managed in a primary care setting, such as an UPCC.
  • Total capital costs for the Ridge Meadows UPCC are estimated to be $4.2 million.
  • The permanent and expanded UPCC is 763 square metres (8,211 square feet) and will include a reception, waiting area, exam rooms, counselling rooms, office spaces and a multipurpose room.
  • UPCCs are part of a comprehensive provincial 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 care, and connect to other services they may need.
Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows primary care networks (PCNs)

Maple Ridge, Haney and Pitt Meadows have a combined population of approximately 110,000. The health professionals working in the two PCNs will be part of a networked and team-based approach to providing care. Recruitments include:

Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows PCN

  • 8.75 FTE general practitioners, six FTE nurse practitioners, four FTE registered nurses, 10 FTE allied health professionals, two clinical pharmacists and five specialist physician groups (contracted).
  • The PCN is expected to attach over 19,000 patients by 2022-23.

First Nations Resources

  • In addition, the primary care networks will include 0.5 FTE nurse practitioners to support the Katize First Nation and 0.5 Elder in care to support culturally safe and traditional care.
  • These resources are expected to attach 300 patients by 2022-23.

Other Resource Supports

  • Five sessional specialists including an endocrinologist, cardiologist, psychiatrist, geriatrician and chronic pain specialists will be added to the Wellness Centre.

How people can access primary care networks:

  • Each network will actively communicate with its community as it grows its services so people living in the community know how and where to access the health services they need.

Primary care network attributes include:

  • processes to ensure all people in a community have access to quality primary care and are attached within a primary care network;
  • provision of extended hours of care, including early mornings, evenings and weekends;
  • provision of same-day access for urgently needed care through the PCN or a UPCC;
  • access to advice and information virtually (e.g., online, text, email) and face to face;
  • provision of comprehensive primary care services through networking of primary care providers and teams, to include maternity, inpatient, residential, mild/moderate mental health and substance use, and preventative care;
  • co-ordination of care with diagnostic services, hospital care, specialty care and specialized community services for all patients and with a particular emphasis on those with mental-health and substance-use conditions, those with complex medical conditions and/or frailty, and surgical services provided in community;
  • clear communication within the network of providers and to the public to create awareness about appropriate use of services; and
  • care that is culturally safe and appropriate.