B.C. funds 62 new health care positions on Metro Vancouver's North Shore

The B.C. government is expanding primary care services on the North Shore, with 62 full-time equivalent positions being added, and about $11million invested over five years.

Health Minister Adrian Dix made the announcement in North Vancouver on Wednesday.

"Health professionals work in teams. They'll build out from the network of health care and primary care we have today to improve primary care in every part of the North Shore," said Dix.

There are currently 27,975 people living in North and West Vancouver,Bowen Island and Lions Bay who donot havefamily physicians. They'llbe served by this expansion within the next five years, according to Dix, who said there were 33,000 people in the area unattached to primary care when he took office in 2017.

The networks are a partnership between the provincialMinistry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, the North Shore Division of Family Practice, and the Squamish andTsleil-WaututhNations.

The 62 new full-time equivalent positions will include:

• 10 family physicians and 15 registered nurses to improve accessto primary care.
• A satellite team supporting three primary care networks located across the region willincludethree clinical pharmacists and 13 allied health professionals.
• Three family physicians and one registered nurse tied to a UBC medical program
• 2.5 family physicians or nurse practitioners, three registered nursesand one allied health professional for the Health Connections Clinic, which servesvulnerable people in the area.
• 2.5 other roles specifically for youth at theHealth Connections Clinic
• Eight full-time equivalentpositions for First Nations health care, including doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, allied health professionals, traditional healers and traditional elders.

"We're getting to work, the funding is in place, the letters have been sent out, we're working together, we're starting three new primary care networks in the North Shore I am delighted," said Dix.