Elected officials and dignitaries, including B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, attend the grand opening of the Chilliwack Primary Care Centre at 7955 Evans Road, near the Evans roundabout, on May 13.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Health care

Chilliwack Primary Care Centre to lose all its dedicated family doctors by mid-September

Jul 12, 2022 | 6:52 AM

CHILLIWACK — Despite the very best efforts to attract and lock in doctors to work at the gleaming new Chilliwack Primary Care Centre at the Evans roundabout, an exodus of doctors from the clinic will happen over the next two months.

The Chilliwack Primary Care Centre celebrated its grand opening in style on May 13 when dignitaries and elected officials, including B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, gathered for what was billed as a new health care facility for unattached patients struggling with complex care needs.

But it hasn’t worked out that way thus far. Less than two months after the pomp and circumstance, Fraser Valley Today has learned that upwards of five family doctors will be leaving the clinic over the next two months.

A Chilliwack-area physician who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Fraser Valley Today the setback “was a great example of the government taking a well-run private-public cooperative and destroying it.”

Specifically, one of five doctors staffing the centre is slated to depart in early August, and four more are expected to relinquish their clinical duties at the centre in mid-September, leaving the clinic without a roster of dedicated, assigned family doctors.

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An Alberta physician had been slated to work at the primary care centre and relocate to B.C. with his family, but could not come to terms with the clinic on a contractual agreement.

The clinic is trying to engage Chilliwack-area physicians for immediate coverage.

The idea behind the primary care clinic, previously housed at Chilliwack General Hospital, was to provide same-day health care for patients with complex care management needs, as well as access for clients requiring support for mental health and substance use.

The long-term outlook for the centre calls for two full-time family physicians, five nurse practitioners, two full-time equivalent registered nurses, one traditional wellness mentor, two pharmacists, and 15.5 allied health professionals.

Staffing it and the surrounding primary care network with family doctors and other health professionals, however, was an issue that Chilliwack Division of Family Practice Executive Director Daphne McRae alluded to at a Chilliwack city council meeting held on July 5. McRae told council members that recruitment of health care staff continued to be a big challenge.