Alberta advancing plans to open 9 new urgent care centres

Posted November 9, 2026 2:50 pm

2 min read

The Alberta government is moving forward with spending $39 million to boost urgent care capacity, which right now is primarily centered in the Calgary region.

The province says the money is to go toward land acquisition for nine new urgent care centres across the province, which could divert up to 300,000 emergency room visits per year.

The $39 million in new funding over three years for planning and land acquisition for the nine urgent care centres was announced this past spring in the 2026 provincial budget.

Once operational, the new facilities would more than double Alberta’s urgent care network to 15 centres from six.

There are currently five urgent cares in the Calgary region (Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks, the downtown Calgary Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and South Calgary Health Centre) and one in central Edmonton that is open weekday evenings and on weekends.

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Urgent care centres are smaller than hospitals and designed to treat people with immediate, but non-life-threatening, medical needs that need to be treated that same day, such as broken bones, asthma attacks, cuts and infections and other pains.

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The centres are planned for west and south Edmonton, the Stony Plain-Spruce Grove area, east Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Cold Lake, Fort McMurray and Sylvan Lake.

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The province said more detailed site information will be released as land acquisition is finalized and planning completed.

When announcing $17 million in planning funding in March 2025, then-health minister Adriana LaGrange said the locations were chosen based on demand in hospitals and population growth.

At that time, the province said more than 35 per cent of E.R. visits in Alberta ended up being for non-life-threatening conditions that could be treated at an urgent care facility.

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The province says on average, an urgent care centre in Alberta provides care to approximately 30,000 to 33,000 patients annually.

— More to come…

With files from The Canadian Press

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