STRATFORD, PE - Premier Dennis King released additional innovations and plans from the PC Party healthcare platform today that focuses on enhancing primary care across the province.
Over the past four years, the PC government under the leadership of Dennis King has launched several initiatives to improve access to primary care including the Pharmacy Plus Program, telehealth services such as Maple, the establishment of Primary Care Access Clinics for those who can’t access care virtually, enhanced recruitment and retention efforts, increased family physician incentives, creating an Atlantic Physician Registry, and moving to a more collaborative model of care through establishing Patient Medical Homes and Neighbourhoods.
A re-elected PC government will support the expansion of Patient Medical Homes to advance access to collaborative care including:
-
Accelerating the roll-out of Medical Homes by adding 16 more Patient Medical Homes across the province by the end of 2024;
-
Adding 100 new full-time positions to support existing and future medical homes;
-
Incentivizing newly created Patient Medical Homes to take unaffiliated patients off the Patient Registry; and
-
Attaching all Island patients on the Patient Registry to a Medical Home in the next 24 months.
Premier Dennis King, along with PC Candidates Jill Burridge and Jenn Redmond, announced
measures to enhance primary care services on Prince Edward Island.
A re-elected PC government will build on those measures with others aimed at improving patient access to care, including:
-
Launching Nurse Practitioner-led walk-in clinics across the province;
-
Making Apps like Maple and other virtual care apps free for all Islanders;
-
Adding Telehealth Access Sites at Access PEI locations and Libraries where Islanders can conveniently and confidentially connect with telehealth providers on services like Maple with on-site staff assistance;
-
Allow in-person registration for telehealth services like Maple at Access PEI locations;
-
Expanding Primary Care Access Clinics (PCAC’s) to provide care for unaffiliated patients by increasing capacity at the existing clinics in Charlottetown and Summerside and opening new clinics in West Prince and Kings County; and
-
Establishing Mobile Primary Care Clinics that can provide care in any community across the province based on need;
“Primary care is an important part of our entire health care system. By having a robust and resilient primary care system we can reduce pressure on our Emergency Departments, prevent chronic disease, reduce overcrowding and pressure in our hospitals, and support our front-line health care workers,” said Premier Dennis King, Leader of the PC Party of PEI. “This new system focuses on the patient by providing the right care, by the right provider, at the right time and place.”