Partners in Care
The Shared Care Partners in Care initiative comprises numerous joint efforts by family (FPs) and specialist physicians (SPs) in regions throughout the province to streamline: referral and consult processes, shared care planning and re-referral criteria, diagnostic standards and communications, telephone advice protocols, and more.
FPs and SPs are teaming up within communities and regions of BC to find locally appropriate solutions to challenges to both access to and delivery of comprehensive care for patients requiring both primary and specialist care, especially those patients with chronic diseases.
With funding from the Shared Care Committee, these teams of physicians are able to develop, test, and implement new processes and systems and, in many cases, build on successful models of care being used elsewhere by members of the Partners in Care initiative.
Local projects include the development and implementation of:
· A telephone advice hotline [Northern RACE (Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise)] providing northern BC FPs access to non-emergent, cardiology-related advice. (Calls returned within two hours, on average). (Northern BC)
· A phone line between Central Okanagan FPs and radiologists and expansion of urgency levels to support appropriate patient prioritization, which have reduced urgent wait times (from four to six weeks to 48 hours, when appropriate), and diagnostic imaging access through ER. (Central Okanagan)
· A consistent referral template from regional ER departments to orthopaedists in Trail to aid in FP/SP communication and improve triage of urgent cases and patient care. (Kootenay Boundary)
More than 1,500 GPs and 200 specialists are involved in the Partners in Care initiative, with work under way at numerous sites across BC, including:
Confirmed / In development 2013/14· Northern Partners in Care
· Providence Health Care
Divisions of Family Practice
· Central Okanagan
· South Okanagan Similkameen
· Kootenay Boundary
· East Kootenay
· Fraser Northwest
· South Vancouver Island / Victoria
· Richmond
· North Shore / Divisions of Family Practice
· Thompson Region
· Shuswap North Okanagan
· Cowichan Valley
· Surrey North Delta
· Ridge Meadows
· Vancouver
Visit www.bcma.org/partners-patients for more information or contact:
Clay Barber – Executive Lead, Shared Care
C (250) 984-2500
Aman Hundal – Lead, Partners in Care
C (604) 812-3231
The Shared Care Committee is a joint committee of the BC Medical Association and the BC Ministry of Health working to improve health outcomes and the patient journey through the health care system. Shared Care initiatives are helping to strengthen the relationship between family and specialist physicians, enabling them to work together to provide coordinated, continuous, and comprehensive patient care, from diagnosis through treatment and recuperation.
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