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The locations of the first 10 urgent primary care centres will be announced in the next few weeks, said Horgan, but the goal is to open at least two in each of B.C.’s five regional health authorities in the North, Interior, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland.

How each centre would operate could be slightly different depending upon the rural or urban community. The goal, said the Ministry of Health, is to have people seen on the same day they ask for help, whether it be through an appointment or walk-in.

For example, a parent with a sick child on an evening or weekend could go to the clinic to see a nurse or doctor, then get referred to a nearby open lab for any required X-rays, tests, blood work, diagnostics or prescriptions so that they don’t have to sit for hours waiting as a non-urgent case at a hospital emergency room.

The three-year plan is a major shift in how the government delivers primary health care, and comes with an annual $128 million funding increase once phased in. It’s also the latest attempt to solve the lack of family doctors. More than 780,000 in B.C. — almost 17 per cent of the population — don’t have a family doctor. The previous Liberal government promised to link every person to a doctor by 2015 but had to abandon the plan as unachievable even after spending millions of dollars to try to court new doctors.

“We do know the model of primary care that has existed in British Columbia since the creation of medicare is in need of change,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix.