PENTICTON – A new primary care network is being created in the South Okanagan Similkameen to improve resident’s access to primary health care.

B.C. provincial health minister Adrian Dix made the announcement this morning, April 12, at Penticton Regional Hospital where it was announced up to 22 new health care providers will be recruited to work in the region’s primary care network over the next three years.

The number includes six new doctors, five new nurse practitioners and 11 other health care providers, such as registered nurses, social workers and pharmacists.

The initiative is expected to provide an additional $4.4 million in annual health care funding by the third year of implementation to the South Okanagan Similkameen region.

The move is expected to improve access to health care and strengthen support for patients and providers in getting primary health care. The initiative begins in the communities of Summerland, Penticton and Okanagan Falls and over time wil expand to include Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Princeton and the region’s First Nations communities.

The primary care networks will focus on the specific needs of each community and improve health services identified as high priority, operating in close partnership with the South Okanagan Similkameen Division of Family Practice, local First Nations and Interior Health.

"We've developed a plan that is tailored to our communities. As physicians, we want the best for our patients and are excited for everyone in our community to have access to primary care. The primary-care network allows us the opportunity to bring in more health-care providers, who will start working in teams, and to open a larger clinic in our area over the next three years,” said South Okanagan Division of Family Practice board vice chair Dr. Tom Phillips.

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