Primary/Secondary Care

Primary Care
Consists mainly of basic health care, including simple diagnostic procedures and treatment of high blood pressure, colds and flu, and the casting of broken bones. It also involves preventative care and health education for conditions such as asthma and diabetic clinics. Primary care is available in all the region's hospitals.

Secondary Care
Secondary care is specialized care that requires more sophisticated and complicated procedures and treatment. This includes general surgery, general internal medicine, and rehab services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, etc.

Secondary care is delivered in all large hospitals, and on a limited basis in some of the smaller hospitals.

Elevated Secondary Care
Involves specific specialized care requiring sophisticated and complicated procedures and treatment. This includes pulmonary and vascular surgery, plastic surgery, and nuclear therapy (CT scans, etc.).

Elevated secondary care is only delivered in larger hospitals that serve large populations and have access to the necessary technology and specially trained professionals.

Tertiary Care
Refers to highly specialized or unusually expensive treatment and procedures such as neonatology, specialized rehabilitation, dialysis, radiation therapy, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, etc.

Tertiary care is delivered only in a few designated centres that are responsible for providing service to a large portion of the provincial population.

Ambulatory Care
Refers to treatment provided to patients not admitted to hospital as in-patients. It includes patients in the emergency department, day surgery and out-patient clinics (dialysis, oncology, minor procedures, orthopaedics, rheumatology, etc.).

Ambulatory care may also be provided before or after hospitalization.

Services may be provided on-site (hospital or health centre), off-site, in the home, or on an outreach basis (professionals visiting the community).