When Dr. Paul Sawchuk and Dr. Thuy-Nga “Tia” Pham arrived in Victoria in the early 2020s, many patients told them they had gone eight or nine years without a family doctor. Both had practised family medicine for decades elsewhere, and both were taken aback by what they saw, including patients with cancers that had gone undiagnosed until very late. Today they lead the six Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs) run by Island Health in South Vancouver Island and work to improve access in the region.

In the Season 3 premiere of Primary Focus, host Dr. Tara Kiran tours the Gorge UPCC. There, nurses triage the waitlist so the most urgent patients are seen first. Nurses with added certifications assess and treat common conditions, and the whole team shares the work of completing forms for people without a doctor. We hear from team members about what makes their collaboration work.

Tara then sits down with Paul and Tia to talk about how the UPCCs have become an access point for the region, how they need to be selective with who they see on an ongoing basis, how they built a team culture that keeps people engaged, and a tension at the heart of primary care in Canada: do we have the resources for everyone to have an ongoing relationship with a family doctor or do we need to focus first on just providing some access to everyone?

Explore the Resources

Explore the Island Health Urgent Primary Care Centre model

Get more information on the UBC Okanagan Primary Care Nursing Micro-Credentials program Nurse Kia mentioned

See photos from my tours of the Gorge and Downtown UPCC campuses

Mainpro+ Credits

Family doctors in Canada can now earn Mainpro+ credits by listening to Primary Focus Podcast episodes published after May 1, 2026.

This self-learning Group Learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Chapter for up to 30 Mainpro+ credits, with 1 credit available per eligible episode. To claim your credit, listen to the episode, review the show notes and complete the self-learning survey. Your certificate will be emailed to you. Find more information at OurCare.ca/podcast

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Have an idea for an episode? Email primary.focus@unityhealth.to