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Interior Health updates Williams Lake on unattached patients

City council was given more accurate numbers to help counter some of the misinformation circulating previously

There are an estimated 4,924 people still looking to get on the patient list of a family care provider in the Williams Lake health care catchment area.

Jill Zirnhelt, executive director of the Centrail Interior Rural Division of Family Practice (CIRDFP), provided the numbers in an update on the Health Connect Registry list for Williams Lake city council at their regular meeting on Nov. 19. The council had asked for the information at the previous quarterly update from Interior Health.

While Zirnhelt said the exact numbers can't be known as they are asking people to self-identify, they could provide an estimate of those still in search of a family physician or nurse practitioner. As some may not have added their names to the list which registers them as needing a primary health care provider, CIRDFP instead took the numbers of people who are listed on the primary health care providers patient lists in the community and then looked at population numbers to come up with an estimate.

There are 21 primary health care providers in the area with attached patient lists, with a total attached population of 18,860 on their lists. This means there are an estimated 4,924 people still needing a family doctor or nurse practitioner. This was based on the 2021 census population number of 23,784.

So far, 4,295 people have added their names to the Health Connect Registry list as actively seeking a primary health care provider.

"At the moment, it actually looks quite accurate," said Zirnhelt.

Dr. Jacques Neuhoff, chair of the CIRDFP, said this year there were seven new primary care practitioners joining in the area, and they expect to add another two providers next year.

The CIRDFP projects to have only 3,024 unattached patients by March 2025.

Coun. Joan Flaspohler expressed appreciation for Interior Health and CIRDFP sharing the information with council.

“It’s just awesome to see accurate information … rather than all these stories flying around," said Flaspohler.

The local centralized attachment list was initially started by the CIRDFP, explained Zirnhelt, then when the provincial list was up and running, those names should have been transferred to the Health Connect Registry.