Primary and community care includes the basic health care services that people access through primary care providers like family doctors, nurse practitioners, and other members of the health care team.
Primary health care is about:
- Prevention and health promotion and supporting people to be well (disease and injury free)
- Supporting people and families to manage chronic disease, like diabetes or high blood pressure
- Supporting people and families to take a more active role in their own care ("patient as partner" approach)
- Effective use of the expertise of all health care professionals
- Efficiency and coordination in service delivery
- Supporting people who have mental health and substance use issues
- Supporting people and families with maternal care (prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum)
Person and family-centred health care
Northern Health is committed to working with physicians and the Divisions of Family Practice to implement a model of primary and community health care service delivery that is centred on the person and their family.
This approach involves creating health care teams, which include your doctor or nurse practitioner and other health care professionals, to provide a range of health care services. This will increase the quality of care by providing continuity of care over time and across settings, and will result in better long-term health outcomes.
Clinics
Nurse practitioners
Nurse practitioners are registered nurses (RNs) with advanced special training who provide comprehensive health care, such as diagnosing and treating common illnesses and injuries, prescribing medications for you, ordering and interpreting your lab and diagnostic tests, and referring you to specialists. Nurse practitioners are important members of Northern Health’s teams of health care professionals.