City of Delta calling for new Urgent and Primary Care Centres

The City of Delta is once again calling on B.C.’s Ministry of Health to establish two Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs), saying the need is greater than ever before.

The city has repeatedly made that request in the light of two overnight closures earlier this year at the emergency department at Delta Hospital.

It says the absence of these centres is putting a massive strain on the Delta Hospital Emergency Department and other hospitals in nearby communities.

In a letter signed jointly with Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke and the Tsawwassen First Nation, Delta Mayor George Harvie pointed to recent overnight ER closures that show the urgent need for these facilities.

“It caused tremendous concerns insofar as where people could go,” Harvie told 1130 NewsRadio.

“And right now, the options are going to Surrey, which was where they were directed to. It had an 18-hour wait.”

He says Delta is currently the only city in the Fraser Health Authority region without a UPCC and has no idea why his community is being excluded.

“When we talk to the hospital staff, we meet all the criteria that they’ve put out for establishment of an urgent and primary care centres,” he said.

“So that’s a real puzzle to me, why they’re ignoring us.”

The letter says Surrey is already managing significant population growth and is experiencing the downstream effects of this gap.

“People should be able to have confidence that quality, timely health care will be available to them when they need it,” Harvie said in the letter.

“The addition of two UPCCs — one supporting residents in and around South Delta and another to support residents in North Delta — would be invaluable, reducing the pressure on Delta Hospital and Surrey Memorial, and ensuring better access to non-emergent health care.”

B.C. Minister of Health Josie Osborne says she knows how important it is to expand the primary care system in Surrey and Delta and other communities south of the Fraser River.

“They’re incredibly fast growing,” Osborne said.

“That’s why we have been working so hard on recruiting, training, getting more primary-care providers here in the province of B.C.”

She says there is a UPCC in Surrey and another opening up soon, and that they are now looking at a third site as well.

“And I’m looking forward to sitting down and being able to speak with the mayor of Delta directly and working with Fraser health to understand all of the concerns, but as well, make sure that we’re moving forward on this,” she said.

“Everything that we can do to keep people from not having to visit emergency rooms, and we leave the emergency rooms for the really high acuity cases that they’re needed for, that’s what we’ve got to continue to do.”

In February, Delta Hospital was forced to close its ER overnight on two consecutive weekends, citing staffing challenges. At the time, Harvie said this was the first time in his 20 years of public service that the emergency room had to close for something other than COVID-19.