New nurse practitioner primary care clinic opens in Surrey

“The Axis Primary Care Clinic will help connect more people living in this rapidly growing community with the health care they need, when they need it,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Thousands of area residents who currently lack a primary care provider will benefit from increased access to a nurse practitioner for regular, ongoing, every day health care.”

Services available to patients at the new clinic include preventative health care, treatment of acute and chronic medical conditions, mental health and addictions support, complex social-needs assessment and co-ordination of specialist care.

Approximately 3,000 patients will be supported by the clinic in the first year. The services will be administered virtually or in the clinic, as needed, by a team of health-care providers, including nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers and mental-health clinicians.

Over the next three years, approximately 6,800 people living in Surrey who have been without a primary care provider will have regular, reliable access to a nurse practitioner.

The clinic began intake on Aug. 10. As of Aug. 31, 224 patients have been registered and will soon receive faster access to health-care supports. 

“Nurse practitioners are highly skilled professionals that can prescribe medications and order and interpret tests, helping us address the doctor shortage,” Dix said. “We are listening to people in B.C., and that is why we are creating clinics led by nurse practitioners to meet the daily health-care needs of a rapidly growing and aging population. Thank you to the dedication and collaborative work of the Association of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC, Fraser Health, the Surrey-North Delta Division of Family Practice and our community partners to make the opening of this primary care clinic a reality.”

The Axis Primary Care Clinic is the second nurse practitioner primary care clinic opened under the primary health care strategy and the first of its kind in the Lower Mainland. It is one of three facilities open in Surrey under the same strategy. The city’s first urgent and primary care centre opened in Whalley in November 2018 and the second centre opened in Newton in May 2020.

Once the clinic is fully operational, the B.C. government will provide annual operating funding of approximately $2 million, as well as one-time startup costs of $754,400.

The opening of the Axis Primary Care Clinic marks a significant supplement to health-care services in Surrey, bringing meaningful change into the lives of people in the region.