The province of British Columbia is dedicated to delivering high-quality, accessible health services that people need. The province is working to build a health system that provides quality care and addresses the unique needs of patients, families, caregivers and health professionals throughout the province.
The provincial Ministry of Health Services website provides a vast amount of information regarding our provincial health care system including how to apply to for coverage to the Medical Services Plan, Health Insurance BC, PharmaCare, Home and Community Care, and even Surgical Wait List Registry.
British Columbia has established five health service regions in the province. Interior Health is responsible for the Interior of British Columbia including Kelowna and the Central Okanagan. Their website has a variety of information including a searchable database for finding a physician, specialist, dentist or chiropractor, home and community care information.
Kelowna General Hospital is the Central Okanagan’s primary acute care health facility and is the largest hospital between Vancouver and Calgary, Alberta. It operates 337 beds – 12 intensive care, 8 coronary care, 139 medical, 1 obstetric, 10 pediatric, 24 psychiatric, 38 rehabilitation, 88 surgical and 20 nursery.
The hospital is undergoing expansion to include a new patient care tower that will be a six-storey, 33,500 square metre (approximately 360,000 square foot) facility to be located on the north-east corner of the KGH site. The building will consolidate, expand and modernize outpatient services and programs currently dispersed throughout KGH into one facility, including brand new operating rooms, quadrupling in size the existing emergency department capacity with a new emergency department on the main floor, and providing shelled-in space for future inpatient beds. The UBC Clinical Academic Campus will be constructed as a separate building. It will be a two storey, 3,200 square metre (approximately 34,000 square foot) building including a 180-seat lecture theatre, library, classroom and clinical space. It will also include an attached multi-level parkade.
