Divisions of Family Practice

Divisions are community-based groups of family physicians working together to achieve common health care goals. As a community-based non-profit group, Divisions bring primary care providers together and provide the infrastructure to support them in addressing common needs and health care priorities in their regions. They work collaboratively with community and health care partners to enhance local patient care and improve professional satisfaction for physicians.

Since its establishment in 2009, the Divisions of Family Practice Initiative has become a cornerstone of BC’s primary health care system. The Initiative has expanded to include 35 Divisions representing more than 230 communities including a division that targets physicians in remote and rural areas of the province. With over 90% of family physicians in the province engaged in a Division, this movement is shifting the culture of primary health care in BC. Through their local Divisions, physicians have been able to:

• Connect and share ideas.

• Overcome the obstacles to collegiality created by geography and busy work schedules.

• Come together to address common issues in their practices, organize educational events, discuss health issues faced by local residents, and make decisions about health care in their communities.

• Work with other health system, government and GPSC partners, and refine a framework for collaborative health care decision-making; and

• Have a powerful voice and feel capable of influencing change.

Divisions build relationships and foster collaboration between physicians and other stakeholders within the healthcare system. Much of this collaboration happens through the Collaborative Services Committees (CSCs), which include representatives from divisions, the regional health authorities, local First Nations, and the First Nations health authority, the GPSC, and the MOH. Through CSCs, these partners work collectively to identify and address local health care challenges, as well as to engage the broader community (e.g., representatives from municipalities, other non-profits, and patients).  

Source: JCC Governance Fundamentals Guidebook, January 2021 Slightly Modified

Welcome to the North Peace Division of Family Practice

We represent family physicians in Fort St. John and Hudson’s Hope, BC.

Together, the members work to improve patient access to local primary care, increase local physicians’ influence on health care delivery and policy, and provide professional support for physicians.

The Division gives local physicians an opportunity to work collaboratively with the Northern Health Authority, the GPSC, and the Ministry of Health to identify health care needs in the local community and develop solutions to meet those needs.