More doctors, nurses to be hired for North Okanagan, Shuswap

The North Okanagan and Shuswap regions of B.C.’s Southern Interior will soon have an influx of doctors and nurses.

On Friday, an announcement from the Office of the Premier, the Ministry of Health and Interior Health said a primary-care network will be established for the two areas, and that around 75 new health-care providers will need to be hired.

“I know many people are worried about access to family doctors,” Premier David Eby said in a release. “The work we are doing in Vernon and the broader North Okanagan and Shuswap region to hire dozens of primary health-care providers will mean more people will get better access to the services they need.”

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According to the province, the primary-care network will hire of around 75 full-time health-care providers, with around 22,500 area residents seeing those providers over the next four years.

“We know people in the North Okanagan-Shuswap area need increased access to primary health-care services,” said health minister Adrian Dix. “By investing in the development of a new primary-care network in Vernon and adding more health-care professionals in the community, we are demonstrating our commitment to connecting more people to health-care services.”

The province says the health-care providers include four family doctors, 20 nurse practitioners, 11 registered nurses, clinical pharmacists, social workers and dedicated resources for Indigenous patients.

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Once fully implemented, the Ministry of Health will provide approximately $12.8 million annually for the primary-care network.

The province says there are 77 primary-care networks currently and work is underway to establish them in more communities throughout the province over the next two years.

“I hear from people in the region about the need to take more action to help people access health care,” said Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu.

“This new primary-care network is great news for our communities. It will help provide better access to care and I look forward to having more health-care workers supporting people in the region.”