The Oceanside Primary Care Network is currently implementing a range of accessible, everyday health services to better support patients and providers in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Errington, Coombs, Bowser, the Snaw-Naw-As and Qualicum First Nations. The PCN partners have been working since 2020 to strengthen high priority services such as:

• Access to chronic disease and chronic pain management
• Access to mild/moderate mental health and substance use services
• Services for families and seniors who are frail and people with complex health issues
• Culturally safe care for Indigenous peoples

Over the next three years, the Oceanside PCN will work to attach 11,950 patients to a consistent primary care provider. By 2024, Oceanside’s new PCN services will include:

1. A Patient Medical Home (primary care clinic) in Qualicum

• 6 Nurse Practitioners and 2 General Physicians

 Oceanside residents now have access to more primary health-care services with the opening of a patient medical home called Flowerstone Family Health Clinic. The patient medical home:

• Is located at 1B - 219 Fern Road in Qualicum Beach
• Opened on Oct. 1, 2020
• Was developed as part of the Oceanside PCN by the Flowerstone Health Society
• Currently employs four full-time nurse practitioners
• Aims to recruit four more primary care providers by 2024
• Will have access to the PCN’s  registered nurse, pharmacist, social worker, mental health and substance use clinician, and First Nations Knowledge Keeper--once those professionals are all in place

• Flowerstone Family Health clinic is working to attach approximately 7,300 people who do not have a primary care provider by 2024.

  If you live in the Oceanside catchment area--Parksville, French Creek, Qualicum Beach, Nanoose Bay, Lighthouse Country, Errington, Lasqueti Island or Arrowsmith Coombs Country-- and would like to join the waitlist for a primary care provider, check out the Oceanside Health Connect Registry.

 

2. A Rural Patient Medical Home (primary care clinic) in Errington

• 1 General Practitioner and 1 Nurse Practitioner

While the rural population makes up over half of the Oceanside population, currently there is no primary care clinic in the Errington-Coombs-Whiskey Creek area. Accordingly, transportation and isolation are the biggest barriers to accessing health care.

Pending a search for an appropriate space and the recruitment of two primary care providers (GPs or NPs), the Errington PMH is scheduled to open by 2024.

The goals of the new clinic are to:

• Attach 3,250 patients currently without a primary care provider to a GP or NP
• Provide integrated longitudinal care for the area’s individuals and families
• Connect those patients who need them with the Oceanside Primary Care Network’s Social Worker, pharmacist, RNs, and/or Indigenous Health team

 

3. A Priority Response Team 

• 2 Registered Nurses, 2 Occupational Therapists and a 1.5 FTE General Practitioner role to respond to urgent care needs

The team works collaboratively to prevent hospital admissions and to facilitate discharges.

The PRT Offers: Assessments, assistance, and referrals for clients who need to be seen within 24 hours in their homes.

Hours of operation: 8:30-20:30, seven days-a-week.

Referrals: Physicians and NPs can submit the Island Health Community Health Services and Geriatric Specialty Services Referral form which can be obtained by phoning Island Health’s Central Intake at: 250-739-5749 or at this link

Family members, paramedics, care homes, etc. can access the team by phoning Island Health’s Central Intake at: 250-739-5749.

The PRT includes RNs, Occupational Therapists, and Physicians who:

RNs:

• Initiate Home Support Services
• Assess needs for urgent Long Term Care placement
• Assist clients with imminent risk of acute care admission

Occupational Therapists:

• Assist existing clients with urgent equipment needs
• Assist short term clients with imminent risks of acute care admission
• Provide urgent after hours rehab for clients discharged from hospital

Physicians:

• Respond to referrals from primary care providers for assessment of patient home emergencies or acute decompensation of chronic conditions
• Respond to acute care referrals for at-risk housebound patients post discharge
• Diagnose and form treatment plans for acutely ill patients who would otherwise be admitted to acute care

 

4. Allied Health clinicians 

• 4 Registered Nurses and a Social Worker to support Patient Medical Homes (family practice clinics)

Oceanside has a high number of seniors, with the fastest projected growth of residents aged 75+ in the country. Oceanside PCN’s Primary Care Link Registered Nurses help frail/elderly and/or complex patients by providing more support to their family physicians or nurse practitioners. These RNs assist in providing high quality and comprehensive care planning to:

• Produce better health outcomes
• Improve access to services
• Offer greater satisfaction for both patients and providers

The RNs are dedicated to a specific family practice clinic and their job description is set to the practice location. For group practitioners with access to a Primary Care Link RN, the PCN recommends that the RN’s time be split evenly among practitioners in the clinic. However, it will be up to the clinic’s discretion to divide the nurse’s time for optimal productivity and fairness.

If you are a primary care provider with an interest in joining the Primary Care Link RN program,     link to EOI? Or provide contact info for who? Or both?

 

5. Clinical Pharmacist 

• 1 Primacy Care Clinical Pharmacist to support Patient Medical Homes (family practice clinics)

Pharmacists play an important role in helping patients realize better health outcomes and higher quality of life.

Approximately 20% of B.C. residents over 70 years of age are taking at least five medications per day, and 16% are taking 10 or more, says the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Oceanside’s clinical pharmacist is a core member of the PCN Team and works directly with primary care providers and patients with complex conditions to:

• Reduce/ manage medication-related problems like drug interactions, adverse medication side effects, and duplicate medications
• Eliminate unneeded medications
• Optimize drug treatments through education and regimen adjustments with prescribers
• Promote safer prescribing by reviewing current evidence about options with physicians and nurse practitioners

If you are an Oceanside physician or nurse practitioner, you can access the PCN pharmacist by completing and submitting the referral form available on Pathways

Or it can be downloaded here: Oceanside PCN Clinical Pharmacist Referral Form.

Note: For providers outside of the Oceanside region – the UBC Pharmacists Clinic takes referrals to their team of clinical pharmacists. Click here for that referral form.

 

6. Indigenous Health Team

• 1 Traditional Knowledge Keeper and 1 Mental Health and Substance Use Liaison