Victoria’s first urgent and primary health care centre to open in March 2020

The City of Victoria is about to receive its first urgent and primary health care centre in 2020, funded by the provincial Ministry of Health.

Same-day appointments and access to ongoing primary care are a few of the services promised at the new care centre which will be operated by Island Health.

The facility is leased from the James Bay Community Project at 547 Michigan Street which is currently undergoing renovations, and will open in March 2020.

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“The new urgent and primary care centre will help connect more people in Victoria with the health care they need, when they need it,” said Minister of Health, Adrian Dix, in a statement.

“By increasing the number of publicly funded health-care professionals in the community, thousands of people who currently lack a primary care provider will benefit from increased access to same-day appointments for urgent needs and improved access to regular, ongoing primary care into the future.”

The care centre will be open 365 days a year and will recruit general practitioners, nurse practitioners, nurses, and mental health and substance-use clinicians to provide same-day and ongoing booked appointments.

Once open, this will be the third urgent primary care centre on Vancouver Island, after the first one in Langford opened in October 2018 and the second in Nanaimo in June 2019.

The facility in Langford has so far served over 23,000 patients and the one in Nanaimo is expected to serve up to 25,000 patient visits per year.