What if you don’t have your own doctor? These are your health care options in BC. Some are new, confusing or hard to find. These are all I’ve discovered over the months since my GP retired. Please write info@skeenavalleyseniors.org with any needed corrections you notice.
First, if you are experiencing chest pain or bleeding profusely, you need to get off this page and phone 911. Do it now.
To get another GP, you need to get on a waiting list.
If you live in British Columbia and need a family doctor or nurse practitioner, register for the Health Connect Registry. Do this first as a start:
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/find-care/health-connect-registry
Accessing health services while you wait
New rules for pharmacists mean that they may renew your prescription for e.g. 90 days, instead of only giving you an ‘Emergency prescription’ of maybe a week’s worth of your prescription. The only thing is that a doctor must have prescribed you within the past two years for that drug.
There are health services available while you wait to connect with a new family doctor or nurse practitioner.
If you dial 811, you will be able to get advice and renew prescriptions that your pharmacist can’t.
Virtual Clinic
Will give you an appointment to a call from a doctor, so you can get advice and referrals for needed tests like blood work or imaging. You can’t get that from 811:
1-844-645-7811
They don’t make this easy to discover for some reason.
Primary care services such as walk-in clinics, Urgent and Primary Care Centres, Foundry Centres, First Nations Primary Care Centres and more are available throughout British Columbia. NOTE: Terrace doesn’t have any walk-in clinics!! Additionally, you can visit your local pharmacy if you need to renew or change some prescriptions or treat minor conditions such as allergies or urinary tract infections.
You can also call HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 to speak to a health service navigator, nurse, dietitian, exercise professional, pharmacist or physician. 8-1-1 is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with support in over 130 languages.
HealthLink BC
If you have questions about the Health Connect Registry, please contact HealthLink BC at 8-1-1. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with support in over 130 languages. For the deaf and hard of hearing (TTY), call 7-1-1. For Video Relay Services, have them call us at 604-215-5101.