KAMLOOPS — 44 per cent of Royal Inland Hospital emergency room patients could be getting care somewhere else.
That’s spurred the creation of the Kamloops Urgent Primary Care and Learning Centre, and Health Minister Adrian Dix says the centre will be operational soon.
Dix says the centre will serve patients who need same-day or next-day appointments but can’t get them with their current family doctors or primary care providers.
“We have one-in-seven people in this local health area in Kamloops without a family doctor. But those people represent seven-of-20 people who go to the emergency room when they could be seeking other alternatives,” said Dix. “And it makes sense that they would do that, but that presents challenges in the emergency room.”
The centre, located along Columbia Street inside the RIH Clinical Services Building, will initially be open in the evenings.
Come fall, Dix says the centre will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week.
