THE BC Liberals said on Tuesday that two years after its opening, the NDP’s Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) in Abbotsford remains chronically understaffed, failing to meet the health care needs of Abbotsford residents.
“When the NDP announced the Abbotsford UPCC, they promised people that it would be a ‘real solution’ to the shortage of primary care providers in our community. However, two years after opening it has barely half the staff it needs and is failing to make a difference for the tens of thousands of people in Abbotsford without a family doctor,” said Abbotsford West MLA Mike de Jong.
“Despite being designed to offer both primary care and emergency services, the medical centre didn’t even start offering urgent care until last November, more than a year after it opened. This is not what the people of Abbotsford were promised — it is time for real action from government to address the health care crisis in our community.”
Data on UPCC staffing from the Ministry of Health shows that Abbotsford’s UPCC has only 53 per cent of the staff it is budgeted for and a staggering eight per cent of the physicians it should have — this while one in five British Columbians can’t access a family doctor, said the BC Liberals.
“The NDP continues to act as if UPCCs are the solution to the family doctor shortage in B.C., all while UPCCs like the one in Abbotsford remain critically short-staffed,” said Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman.
“Instead of opening more understaffed medical centres, the NDP needs to get serious about training, recruiting and retaining health care workers to truly address the chronic staffing shortages felt throughout the province. It’s all too clear our health care system is in crisis, and decisive action from government to address the situation is long overdue. People deserve to have confidence in their health care system, but right now they don’t.”
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