Primary Care Networks
Your doctor is a member of this PCN
Your doctor a member of the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network (LBD PCN). This means you are part of the LBD PCN, where a team of registered nurses, registered dietitans, an exercise specialist, behavioursal health consultants and mental health clinicians, along with your family doctor, will help you improve your health.
There are 40 PCNs providing coordinated health services throughout Alberta. Through a partnership between family physicians and Alberta Health Services, each PCN is uniquely designed to meet the needs of its patients.
In addition to the care you receive from your family doctor, programs and services at your PCN include:
• diabetes management
• weight management
• mental health
• eldercare consultation
• referral coordination
• Prescription To Get Active
• specialists clinics
Ask your doctor or health team member to connect you with the PCN services that are right for you.
What is Primary Care?
Primary care is the first point of contact a person has with the health system – the point where people receive care for most of their everyday health needs. Primary care is typically provided by family physicians and health care professionals such as nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, mental health professionals, therapists and others.
Primary care includes the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of various health conditions. It also includes referrals to specialists and diagnostic services such as laboratory tests or X-rays.
Family physicians and Alberta Health Services personnel routinely provide primary care services within PCNs. Family physicians are often the first step for patients seeking appointments for primary care needs while Alberta Health Services provides important services such as laboratory and X-ray services.
Primary Care Networks
In 2003, Alberta Health and Wellness, the Alberta Medical Association and Alberta’s Regional Health Authorities (now Alberta Health Services) established the Primary Care Initiative (PCI) to improve access to family physicians and other frontline health care providers in Alberta.
In the 2003 PCI Master Agreement, the three health partners set an agenda of:
- Increasing the number of Albertans with access to primary care services
- Managing access to appropriate round-the-clock primary care services
- Increasing the emphasis on:
- Health promotion
- Disease and injury prevention
- Care of patients with medically complex problems
- Care of patients with chronic diseases
- Improving coordination of primary health services with other health care services including hospitals, long-term care and specialty care services
- Fostering a team approach to providing primary health care.
There are 40 PCNs operating throughout Alberta with more than 3,800 family physicians and 1,400 health care professionals as members.
PCN Provincial Objectives
Primary Care Networks across the province provide services that best meet the needs of their patient populations. With this being said, provincial objectives were set for all PCNs. These are: