FILE PHOTO

(HOWARD ALEXANDER / iNFOnews.ca)

Penticton city council threw its enthusiastic support behind the proposed new community walk-in clinic scheduled to open in the city’s south end early next summer.

The clinic partners hope to match thousands of local residents with family doctors or nurse practitioners once it opens.

Following a presentation by Blake Laven, the city’s director of development services, council unanimously supported a staff recommendation to waive $25,000 in building permit fees and agree to permissive tax exemptions.

The society requested that the city waive all construction permitting fees and expedite the permitting and licensing process.

Earlier this month, council heard from the various partners in the new clinic, that would provide 5,600 square feet of space at 3115 Skaha Lake Road.

The walk-in clinic’s partners include the South Okanagan Similkameen Health Care Society, Division of Family Practice and Penticton Community Foundation.

The proposed clinic, tentatively scheduled to open the first week in July , will be 5,600 square feet and feature 20 exam and procedure rooms, providing clinic space for more than 30 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and support staff, said Laven.

A major goal of the clinic is to hook up as many as 3,600 local residents with direct access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner as soon as possible, said Laven.

“What was shared with us is that potentially 30 healthcare practitioners can work at the clinic,” Laven said. “Fifteen doctors have signed on to provide those services to manage the walk-in clinic and nine others have signed on to operate the ...  family doctor clinics through this facility as well.

“There’s still opportunities for more.”

A clinic this size with the planned resources that will be offered serves as a strong recruitment tool to attract even more healthcare professionals to work there, said Laven.

Social workers, occupational therapists, dieticians and other healthcare professionals are also on board to share space within the clinic.

The SOS Health Care Society will operate the new clinic in partnership with several partners, including the Division of Family Practice and Community Futures.

This new and much larger clinic will replace the current Community Walk-In Clinic at Apple Plaza and the Fairview Medical Clinic, which are both run by the SOS Health Care Society, said Laven.

There are two types of private walk-in clinics that are currently offered in the province, said Laven.

Walk-in clinics, where there are no appointments necessary and patients are seen on a first-come, first-serve basis, are a popular model and there are two of these currently operating in Penticton, he said.

“You also have to have long-term or family care practice associated with it as well,” Laven said. “That’s changing the way walk-in clinics work, compared to the way that they used to.”

The other model is “longitudinal clinics”, which are your typical family practice clinics that have client lists and patients must make appointments and long-term care is provided, he said.

“There are many of these types of clinics operating in Penticton,” he said. “These are the types of clinics that provincial policies really try to encourage so that everybody has access to a family doctor that can manage their long-term healthcare.”

There has been a massive decline in the number of walk-in clinics where appointments aren’t needed across the province.

A big problem has been doctors own the clinics and have to act as business people as well as primary practitioners at the clinic, he said.

“We’re really seeing that doctors aren’t as interested in operating these clinics as they used to be,” he said. “So you’re seeing a shortage of doctors overall and seeing doctors who want to be doctors and not business owners.”

The province has established Urgent and Primary Care Centres to address the gap left by the decline in walk-in clinics, he said.

These centers are run by the health authority (Interior Health) and are designed to handle non-emergency health concerns, similar to the service provided by a walk-in clinic.

The Penticton UPCC, located at 437 Martin Street, opened in March of 2021. The UPCC is approximately 6,000 square feet and was fully funded by the Province.

The South Okanagan Hospital Board contributed $1 million dollars to support the clinic’s capital expense, he said.

In practice, the UPCC in Penticton is not a viable replacement for drop-in clinics as it only is open to the general public after 5 p.m. and only until 8 p.m.

During the day (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) it is a long-term primary care centre for those with substance use and mental health needs only and does not receive walk in patients, said Laven.

The SOS Healthcare Society was created recently through the Division of Family Practice based on an initiative to offer walk-in clinic services, including three in Penticton and one in Summerland, he said. This group took over the Apple Plaza Walk-In Clinic, when it was scheduled to close last year. They also operate the Fairview Walk-In clinic and the Ponderosa Clinic.

It’s rare in this province to have a non-profit organization that owns and operates medical clinics, he said.

“The doctors that provide the healthcare, they pay an administrative fee and they don’t have to run it as a business,” he said.

— This article was originally published by the Penticton Herald

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