Urgent Primary Care Centre decreasing RIH wait times: Interior Health
KAMLOOPS — A new health facility in Kamloops is having an impact on emergency room wait times at Royal Inland Hospital.
David Matear is the executive director for hospitals and communities in Interior Health West, and he says more than 1,000 patients have been seen since the Urgent Primary Care Centre opened in June, and numbers are expected to rise since the addition of the Family Practice Learning Centre in August.
“It has had an impact on individuals attending the emergency department. Because it’s only been open for a short period of time were not sure of the full impact, we’re expecting that it will have a more significant impact than it has currently,” Matear says. “The numbers have been steadily increasing. So those patients who are attending the emergency department who don’t necessarily need to be seen in the emergency department are given the option as to whether they want to be seen in the urgent care centre, and then they can make direct contact from there.”
When someone presents at the emergency room with an illness, ailment or injury that isn’t life threatening, they’re offered a referral to the urgent care centre to be seen by a healthcare provider within 12 to 24 hours.