If you live in B.C. and need a primary care provider, you can register for the Health Connect Registry. You can also register your family members or a person in your care.

To register, you’ll need to provide your Personal Health Number, B.C. home address and contact information. 

Register Now

The Health Connect Registry is the most efficient way to find a family doctor or nurse practitioner in the region. Once registered, you will be added to the list in chronological order and contacted directly when a primary care provider is available. We ask you to please be patient, as it may take some time to be connected with a doctor or nurse practitioner.

Please refrain from contacting clinics directly to inquire about waitlists. Clinics are experiencing a very high call volume and do not have the capacity to respond to these requests. For fairness and efficiency, clinics are transitioning away from individual clinic waitlists to the centralized Health Connect Registry and will refer anyone calling to self-register with the Health Connect Registry.

Update Your Information

Keeping information on the Health Connect Registry up to date is important. This will help us connect you to a family doctor or nurse practitioner. If you need to update information on the Health Connect Registry for yourself, your family or person in your care, please contact HealthLink BC by dialing 8-1-1, or for the deaf and hard of hearing, dialing 7-1-1.

A HealthLink BC health service navigator will ask you for your Personal Health Number. If you are updating information on behalf of your family or a person in your care, you will require their Personal Health Number to make an update. 

Information on the Health Connect Registry can only be updated by phone at this time.

Emergency or Immediate Care

If you have a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 or go to your closest emergency department.
For immediate care, Kootenay Boundary has an Urgent Primary Care Centre in Castlegar, open 8 a.m. – 8 p.m., 7 days a week: 709 - 10th Street, (250) 365-7711.

Other urgent supports:

• Suicide crisis: 1-800-SUICIDE (1 800 784-­2433)
• Mental health issue: 310-­6789 (24 hours)
• KUU-US Aboriginal crisis line: 1-800-588-8717 (24 hours)
• FNHA Doctor of the Day for Aboriginal Patients at 1-855-344-3800

Other resources to help with your care

If you do not have a family doctor or nurse practitioner, one or more of the resources below may be helpful to you:

• Walk-In Clinics, Unattached Patient Clinics and UPCC
  • Ancron Medical Centre (Walk-in Clinic)
  • Kootenay Lake Medical Clinic (Unattached Patient Clinic)
  • Castlegar Urgent Primary Care Centre

• Pharmacist services and prescriptions: You can visit a pharmacist to get assessed and offered treatment for 21 minor ailments or contraception. You may receive a prescription, be given advice for self-care or be advised to see another health care professional for further assessment. This service is free to all B.C. residents with a Personal Health Number. Use the online booking tool to make an appointment with a pharmacist near you.

  Pharmacists can also help you with emergency prescription refills.

• Community Services
  • Kootenay Boundary Fetch: Website with information for programs and resources located in, or serving, communities in the KB Region, including health services, mental health/counselling supports, substance use and addictions, children, youth and families supports and much more.
• Circle of Indigenous Nations: Aboriginal non-profit society that provides cultural support and counseling services to people in the West Kootenay and Boundary region.
  • Kootenay Boundary aboriginal residents can self refer to the region’s Aboriginal Health Coordinator using this form.
• First Nations Health Authority
• Maternity Care
  • KB Wide: Aboriginal Doula Grant Program
  • Kalso: Blue Heron Midwifery
  • Nelson: Apple Tree Maternity
  • Nelson: Kootenay Born Midwifery
  • Nelson: Kootenay Medical Centre
  • Nelson: Nelson Medical Clinic
  • Trail: Aspen Maternity
  • Trail: Mountain Midwives
• Infant and Children Health (0-5)
• Children and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use Supports
• Adult Mental Health Supports
  • KB Fetch Directory
  • KB Division Mental Health Supports Listing
  • Mental Health and Substance Use Services
  • Perinatal Mental Health Resources
• Home and Community Care: Offers a variety of at-home and community services to people with acute, chronic, palliative or rehabilitative health care needs.
• Chronic Disease Management: Offers ongoing care and support to assist individuals impacted by a chronic health condition, including asthma, COPD and other lung conditions, brain injury, dementia, diabetes, chronic pain, heart disease, kidney disease, stroke and TIA, and for those with mental health and substance use concerns.
• Low Cost Dental | Community First Health Co-op

About Primary Care Networks and the Health Connect Registry

PCNs are community-based networks of health care professionals and clinics who plan and deliver all day-to-day health care needs of a community. Within these networks, teams of providers work together. This way, patients receive better care, by the right person, at the right time, closer to home.

PCNs are part of the Province's Primary and Community Care Strategy to make sure you have faster and better access to the everyday health care services.

The Health Connect Registry is part of this strategy. The Registry works with communities to help match patients with a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner. We know that having a regular provider leads to better health for you and your family.

Health Services and Support

While you are waiting to be connected with a family doctor or nurse practitioner, please consider the following for accessing health services and support.

Call HealthLink BC

HealthLink BC provides free health information and advice any time of the day or night. Call us toll-free at 8-1-1 in B.C., or for the deaf and hard of hearing, call 7-1-1. A health service navigator will help you find the information you are looking for or transfer you to a registered nurse, registered dietitian, licensed pharmacist or qualified exercise professional. Our navigators can also help you find a health service in your community such as a walk-in clinic or urgent primary care centre. Translation services are available in over 130 languages.

Visit your local walk-in clinic

You are welcome to visit a walk-in clinic. Walk-in clinic doctors can diagnose, manage illnesses, prescribe medication, order medical tests and make referrals to specialists. Please visit our HealthLinkBC Directory to find a clinic close to where you live.

Find health services and support in your community

Search our HealthLinkBC Directory to find health services in B.C. We list all publicly-funded health, mental health and addiction treatment programs. If you need help finding a health service, call HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 and speak with one of our health service navigators.

The content and resources included on this webpage have been jointly created and curated by the Kootenay Boundary Primary Care Network and HealthLink BC.