The new North Shore Urgent and Primary Care Centre at Northills Shopping Centre. (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

URGENT AND PRIMARY CARE CENTRE

Kamloops urgent care patient loads expected to ease with opening of new North Shore UPCC

Nov 26, 2024 | 5:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — Some of the pressure on the Royal Inland Hospital emergency department and the Urgent Primary Care and Learning Centre downtown should be alleviated with the opening of a new urgent care and walk-in clinic.

The last walk-in clinic on the city’s North Shore closed around eight years ago, but Tuesday (Nov. 26), a new urgent and primary care centre with walk-in appointments opened in the Northills Shopping Centre.

Patients who want to use the North Shore Urgent and Primary Care Centre can call ahead to book an appointment or walk in and be seen by the medical team. Patients will be seen based on the urgency of their conditions, similar to an emergency room.

Once it is fully operational, Interior Health anticipates the clinic could provide nearly 85,000 patient visits per year.

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“We’re very excited to have our second Urgent Primary Care Centre opening up in Kamloops,” says Kathy Doull, Interior Health’s executive director of clinical operations for Kamloops Community Health Services. “This one is a little bit different from the UPCLC on Columbia Street in that there is walk-in access for individuals.”

Interior Health says the need for another urgent primary care centre was high, and with this location, the north side of the city will have a similar clinic to what’s available downtown.

“We know that we have hit our max capacity at the other UPCC, so this one will really help us to take some of that patient load off,” explains Doull. “It also helps us keep people out of (RIH) emergency because we can provide that urgent care.”

It was a soft launch for the facility Tuesday, and it will be open for part-time hours over the next two weeks. Between Tuesday (Nov. 26) and Monday (Dec. 2), the clinic will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. December 3 through December 9, the clinic will operate between 11:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

While full time hours between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. will begin on December 10, onward.

Walk-in appointments are available, and appointments can also be booked ahead of time by calling 250-314-2256, starting at 10:00 a.m. daily.