Save 2SLGBTQIA+ Funding @ Spectrum
The Issue
For over 25 years, Spectrum Health in Vancouver has provided specialized, team-based primary care to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and people living with HIV — care built on trust, continuity, and time. Spectrum currently provides HIV care for roughly a quarter of all people living with HIV in British Columbia.
That care is now at risk. The BC Ministry of Health has eliminated the population-based funding (PBF) model that has supported Spectrum since it opened in 1999, including its dedicated HIV funding. As a direct result, Dr. Eben Nel is being forced to close his family practice on October 31, 2026 — with no replacement physician in place. Affected patients are currently being offered only the general Health Connect Registry, a poor substitute for specialized HIV and 2SLGBTQIA+ care.
We are patients, partners, and community members who rely on this model of care. As a gay man, I found that general practice doctors often didn't understand our community — I felt I couldn't open up without being judged or marginalized. I struggled with my mental health in ways that are common in our community, shaped by that same lack of understanding. At Spectrum Health, under Dr. Fraser Norrie and later Dr. Nel, I finally found physicians who understood me and made me feel safe being honest about my health. In a very real sense, Spectrum didn't just treat me — they saved me. That safety is not something I can easily find elsewhere, and I know I am not alone in feeling this way. Same-day STI testing and PrEP access, team-based nursing care, and physicians with the time to actually know their patients are not luxuries — for people managing HIV and complex, stigmatized health needs, they can be the difference between staying engaged in care and falling out of it entirely.
We are calling on the Ministry of Health to:
Restore or replace dedicated HIV funding within whatever new primary care model succeeds PBF, so physicians are fairly compensated for the complexity of HIV management within longitudinal care.
Ensure Spectrum Health and similar clinics have a viable funding path that doesn't force them to shed physicians or reduce services to medically complex and marginalized patients.
Provide a real, transparent continuity-of-care plan for patients displaced by these funding cuts.
British Columbia has long been a leader in HIV care and harm reduction. Please don't let a funding decision quietly unravel one of the province's most trusted models of community-based care.
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The Issue
For over 25 years, Spectrum Health in Vancouver has provided specialized, team-based primary care to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and people living with HIV — care built on trust, continuity, and time. Spectrum currently provides HIV care for roughly a quarter of all people living with HIV in British Columbia.
That care is now at risk. The BC Ministry of Health has eliminated the population-based funding (PBF) model that has supported Spectrum since it opened in 1999, including its dedicated HIV funding. As a direct result, Dr. Eben Nel is being forced to close his family practice on October 31, 2026 — with no replacement physician in place. Affected patients are currently being offered only the general Health Connect Registry, a poor substitute for specialized HIV and 2SLGBTQIA+ care.
We are patients, partners, and community members who rely on this model of care. As a gay man, I found that general practice doctors often didn't understand our community — I felt I couldn't open up without being judged or marginalized. I struggled with my mental health in ways that are common in our community, shaped by that same lack of understanding. At Spectrum Health, under Dr. Fraser Norrie and later Dr. Nel, I finally found physicians who understood me and made me feel safe being honest about my health. In a very real sense, Spectrum didn't just treat me — they saved me. That safety is not something I can easily find elsewhere, and I know I am not alone in feeling this way. Same-day STI testing and PrEP access, team-based nursing care, and physicians with the time to actually know their patients are not luxuries — for people managing HIV and complex, stigmatized health needs, they can be the difference between staying engaged in care and falling out of it entirely.
We are calling on the Ministry of Health to:
Restore or replace dedicated HIV funding within whatever new primary care model succeeds PBF, so physicians are fairly compensated for the complexity of HIV management within longitudinal care.
Ensure Spectrum Health and similar clinics have a viable funding path that doesn't force them to shed physicians or reduce services to medically complex and marginalized patients.
Provide a real, transparent continuity-of-care plan for patients displaced by these funding cuts.
British Columbia has long been a leader in HIV care and harm reduction. Please don't let a funding decision quietly unravel one of the province's most trusted models of community-based care.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on August 7, 2026