Planning funds have been allocated to new urgent care centres across Alberta, including locations in the Calgary area.
Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said that, if approved, the 2025 budget has allocated $17 million provincewide over two years for planning of eight new urgent care facilities. That includes money ($2 million) for the planning of an integrated primary and urgent care facility in Airdrie and a regular urgent care centre for East Calgary.
It’s part of the province’s plan to reduce the stress on hospital emergency departments by diverting non-life-threatening medical cases to other medical facilities. Once the centres are open, they expect it to divert 200,000 cases from hospital emergency departments annually.
“For too long, we have heard stories of overcrowded emergency departments, long wait times and the lack of available resources in communities across this province,” Minister LaGrange said.
“The locations for these new urgent care facilities were selected based on current and projected increases in demand for lower acuity care and emergency departments.”
With the opening of a future new urgent care facility in Airdrie, many North Calgary residents will also have closer and more efficient access to healthcare. Dr. Julian Kyne, a physician with One Health Airdrie, who will be the primary care operator that’s co-located with the new Airdrie urgent care centre, said they’re currently seeing 100 to 150 patients a day at the existing Airdrie urgent care.
“With the building of the new urgent care center, we anticipate that the capacity will increase by 200 per cent, so it’ll be a very significant increase,” he said.
“Airdrie urgent care currently services patients from northeast and northwest Calgary. A very significant proportion of Calgarians come out to Airdrie for their urgent care needs.”
Temporary night closures of the current Airdrie Community Health Centre urgent care in 2022 raised concerns about healthcare access for residents in north Calgary.
The province had few details on the potential east Calgary urgent care location.
“Many details, including the scope of each facility and cost estimates, will be determined through the planning process,” read an email from Minister LaGrange’s office in response to LWC questions.
“However, it is expected the facility in east Calgary will also support Chestermere and Strathmore while freeing up capacity at the Peter Lougheed Centre in northeast Calgary and South Health Campus in southeast Calgary.”
The news came as a surprise to city councillors representing Calgary’s east side.
Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said that he’s in favour of any additional investment into public healthcare for East Calgary. Even though it’s not immediate implementation, planning is the next best thing, Carra said.
“I’m very supportive of diversifying the offerings of healthcare that are very needed throughout Calgary, throughout Alberta and East Calgary, is definitely a population-rich environment that needs all kinds of services,” he said.
“So, if they’re contemplating an urgent care facility, I think that’s a great addition to the neighbourhoods.”
Minister LaGrange said the investment was necessary, both to reduce unnecessary visits to ERs, but also provide accessible healthcare to a growing number of Albertans.
“More people are choosing to call Alberta home, which is why we are taking action to build capacity across the health care system. Urgent care centres help bridge the gap between primary care and emergency departments, providing timely care for non-life-threatening conditions,” she said.
