Province provides first report on community-based primary care services

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VICTORIA – As part of the Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord 2025, the Province and BC Green caucus have released the first of two reports outlining key findings from their assessment of B.C.’s primary care system.

“Since 2018, our goal has been to ensure that more people in B.C. are connected to the care they need, when and where they need it,” said Josie Osborne, Minister of Health. “This report is an important first step in our work to make the most of existing resources, identify ongoing challenges and better plan for the future.”

This first report provides an overview of investments in B.C.’s primary care system since the launch of the Primary Care Strategy in 2018. It highlights significant actions taken to expand primary care capacity and accessibility. Since 2018, nearly 750,000 people in British Columbia have become newly attached to a primary care provider. As of June 2025, 76% of people in B.C. have a longitudinal primary care provider.

“The transparency and detail in this report mark an important step forward for B.C.’s health-care system – and it’s just the beginning,” said Jeremy Valeriote, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and BC Greens interim leader. “From this common understanding, health-care experts, policymakers, patients and the public can now discuss evidence-based recommendations to improve health-care access across the province. But numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Phase 2 will build on this work by incorporating expert advice for concrete steps to meet our commitment to help communities build more community health centres to better serve primary and preventative care needs of British Columbians.”

To support the continued implementation of B.C.’s Primary Care Strategy initiatives, including primary care networks, urgent and primary care centres, community health centres, First Nations primary care centres, Foundry and family physician- and nurse practitioner-led clinics, the Province has committed over $672 million for 2025-26. This builds on more than $579 million invested in 2024-25.

A final report, focusing on an assessment of the barriers affecting the expansion and effectiveness of B.C.’s primary care system – particularly on community health centres – will be released publicly in fall 2025. The intention of the final report is to help shape future policy and funding approaches to strengthen community health centres in B.C., and the primary care system as a whole.