Last year, Vancouver hospitals saw roughly 10,000 visits for mental-health emergencies and more than 6,000 people admitted for substance-misuse incidents such as a drug overdose.

Taken together, those numbers translate to an increase of 76 percent compared to 2009.

When interviewed by the Straight in August 2015, Mark Levy, medical manager of Vancouver General Hospital’s (VGH) psychiatric-assessment unit, said that those statistics are creating challenges.

“It does put a strain on resources,” he said at the time. “There really hasn’t been an increase in in-patient beds to any significant degree. We do run into situations where we are in a crisis mode and we have to accommodate patients that are in the emergency room.”

Now Vancouver Coastal health (VCH), the regional health-care provider that operates VGH, has unveiled a new program that’s designed to bring those numbers back under control.

The Access and Assessment Centre (ACC) is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Located adjacent to VGH, it serves as a primary access point for adults (aged 17 and up) who are experiencing a mental-health crisis or a substance-misuse incident.

“The Access and Assessment Centre (AAC) at Vancouver General Hospital will take pressure off emergency departments and provide a central location where clients with mental health and substance use problems can access health care services and information, including an onsite assessment,” a VCH media release states.

The release also says the facility hopes to divert as many as 4,000 visits away from the VGH emergency department every year.

“Any adult in Vancouver with mental health and or substance use problems can walk in, or call the support telephone line at 604-875-8289,” according to the release. “Family members can also make inquiries and receive support, while physicians can refer their patients to this service and ambulance and police can bring patients directly to the AAC."

It notes that the program adds to VCH’s capacity to treat mental-health and addictions issues but isn’t all new services. The ACC consolidates a number of existing programs, including Acute Home Based Mental Health Treatment, Mental Health Emergency Services, and Vancouver Adult Mental Health Intake Assessment services.

Perhaps most significant among the new services offered is the 24-hour-a-day walk-in option that allows both self-referrals and family referrals.

The building is not designed for long-term stays but sees staff equipped to conduct in-depth screenings and recommend the best course of action for a patient’s next step.

“With the opening of this centre we’re effectively opening a second door into the health care system where issues stemming from mental health and substance use are a priority,” the AAC’s medical manager, Dr. Vijay Seethapathy, said in a media release.

The ACC was given a soft opening at 711 West 12th Avenue last week and had its official unveiling on May 4. When the Joseph and Rosalie Segal Family Health Centre is completed next year, the ACC will move to that building at 803 West 12th Avenue.