Access Central is seeing success throughout Interior Health region 

A phone service that connects adults to withdrawal management support for alcohol and other substances is seeing increasing use throughout the Interior Health (IH) region.

Access Central has been supporting adults aged 19 and over in IH to access withdrawal management services since its public launch in December 2025. Access Central provides same-day clinical screening, assessment, triage, bed-matching and personalized substance use care planning.

To get connected to Access Central in IH, call 1-866-777-1103 seven days a week (9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).

In the first three months, Access Central has supported nearly 3,000 client calls throughout the IH region, helping people access community bed-based withdrawal management (or “detox”) and other mental health and substance use services to best meet their needs, such as outpatient withdrawal management services and virtual addition medicine (VAM) clinic support for the treatment of substance use disorder.

Bed-based withdrawal management are medical services supported by physicians and 24/7 nursing care to safely support clients through potential complications as substances are eliminated from the body. Access Central helps match people to available beds for bed-based withdrawal management services. This also makes it easier for people to access services across IH by keeping a centralized waitlist determined by the level of care needed by patients.

Work is underway to expand Access Central to integrate the full continuum of bed-based substance use services, including transition, stabilization, treatment, and supportive recovery beds. Additional efforts to enhance substance use services at IH include improving transitions between levels of care and continuing to build a recovery-oriented system that is supportive of the needs of patients.

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