(flickr.com)

Media Contacts

Ministry of Health

Communications
250 952-1887 (media line)

Interior Health

Communications
media@interiorhealth.ca
1 844 469-7077

Backgrounders

Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre

The Penticton Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) will be located at unit 101 – 437 Martin St., Penticton.

  • It will feature improved access to care through extended weekend and evening hours.
  • The centre will be open seven days a week, 365 days per year, including holidays, once fully implemented.
  • People can self-refer for their urgent care needs. Patients can also be referred by community service providers, other health-care professionals and agencies. People are encouraged to visit their own family physician or nurse practitioner where possible.
  • People can also schedule appointments. During busy periods, appointments will be prioritized based on urgency.
  • Services being offered through the Martin Street Outreach Centre will be transitioning to the UPCC.
  • Patients requiring laboratory testing beyond the simple specimen collection will be provided with requisitions for lab tests to be completed at nearby laboratories.
  • Of the nearly 48,000 people in the Penticton and Summerland region, approximately 7,200, or roughly 15% of patients, are considered unattached.
  • The five top identified conditions in the Penticton Local Health Area are hypertension, osteoarthritis, episodic mood and anxiety disorders, asthma and osteoporosis.
  • About 43% of visits to Penticton Regional Hospital emergency department in 2019-20 were triaged as relatively low acuity. Many of these visits could be dealt with in alternative settings, such as a UPCC.
  • Total capital costs for the UPCC are estimated to be $2.5 million.
  • The UPCC will be 560 square metres (6,028 square feet) and will include a reception, waiting area, exam rooms, consultation rooms, multidisciplinary assessment 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.
  • The Penticton UPCC joins other local primary care clinics and walk-in clinics, which together provide primary care services to the immediate vicinity and form the South Okanagan Similkameen Primary Care Network.

South Okanagan Similkameen Primary Care Network:

  • The South Okanagan Similkameen Primary Care Network is working to attach 12,000 patients by 2022-23. The network is adding capacity to the 50 physicians in the Penticton area who provide team-based care through an interdisciplinary team of allied health professionals and increase access for people, including the frail in the community, those with low- and medium-complex conditions, and those with mild to moderate mental health and substance use challenges.
  • The network will grow to eventually include all the communities in the South Okanagan Similkameen region.