Getting help with aches, pains, minor injuries and infections or anything people see their family doctor about, should be easier in South Delta once a primary care network is set up.
Delta and Abbotsford are the last two areas in the Fraser Health region that have been invited to create such a network, which will offer team-based care and allow more streamlined access from one professional to another for treating ailments that usually require a doctor’s visit, rather than emergency services.
In a PCN, physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, other health professionals and community organizations work together to provide the primary care services needed within an area.
“They all work together to provide primary care to the local population,” said Geri McGrath, executive-director with the Delta Division of Family Practice. “It’s been really helpful for the patients and the doctors,” where primary care networks have been set up in other areas, The benefit of going last is learning how other areas set up their networks, she added.
“All in all, it’s been a success I think.”
The division will partner with Fraser Health to create the network. A service plan is being developed which will identify gaps in service, aided by a public survey now online and open until May 2. One of the questions asked will be if people have a family doctor or if they’re on the wait list.
See the survey at: https://questionnaire.simplesurvey.com/f/l/SouthDeltaPCN.
McGrath said one of the main goals of a network is to support doctors who are overworked and at capacity.
“They won’t have to be all things to all people. They’ll have a network they can rely on as well,” McGrath said.
So far, 77 primary care networks have been set up across the province.
McGrath said the goal is to have a service plan in place by the fall to allow funding and implementation to begin.
Tsawwassen First Nation is also partnering in the network.
South Delta is one of the last areas in Fraser Health to create a primary care network and had to wait to be invited.
Delta family physician Dr. Shelly Jetzer said a primary care network should allow ease of access and communications to health services for patients.
“It will be more efficient care if you have a set network of people and resources that you can refer out to and have involved in the community,” she said.
In addition to doctors, nurses and pharmacists, community services, social workers, mental health counsellors will be part of the network.
“It’s about coordinated services and networks to care for people,” she added.
She explained that team-based care is care delivered by a comprehensive group of professionals that work together, usually led by physicians.
She noted though that South Delta already has a cohesive group of medical practitioners.
“It’ll just be a matter of strengthening those connections that we already have and also adding connections to our network,” Eckland Jetzer said.
Primary care is basic care offered in the community, centred on family doctors, rather than more advanced care offered in hospitals. Other provinces are a bit further ahead in the team-based approach, she added.
“It’s just going to allow us to provide the care that we are trained to provide.” Currently, doctors spend a lot of time connecting patients to other resources.
“We’re hoping that we’ll have a team of people that can work on different pieces of the puzzle so that physicians can focus on the medical care.
“What we’re really hoping for is seamless, efficient care … collaborative care.”
