Health Minister Michelle Thompson (middle) addresses residents of Queens Feb 17, 2023. Photo Ed Halverson

People from across Queens gathered at the Best Western in Liverpool Friday to share their concerns about the health care system and hear what the province is doing to fix it.

Minister of Health and Wellness Michelle Thompson and representatives from across the health authority spent just over an hour answering questions from the public.

People wanted to know what’s being done to recruit more primary caregivers, how to reduce wait times, and if there are enough paramedics to answer their call in an emergency.

Minister Thompson says she welcomes the opportunity to speak directly to Nova Scotians about steps government is taking to tackle the healthcare crisis.

“Sometimes it’s hard for us to get our message out,” said Thompson. “It’s hard to get all of this information out past media cycle, we often live in soundbites and so to sit in community and hear directly and speak directly for two hours, I think is really meaningful for people.”

The minister went into detail about plans to recruit doctors from abroad and entice retired physicians back to practice.

Residents pose questions to Nova Scotia Health officials at the Queens Community Health Conversation on Feb 17 2023. Photo Ed Halverson

But she made it clear that across North America, systems are moving away from patients having a single-family doctor and moving to a collaborative team approach.

Thompson says that care team could consist of a nurse practitioner, a physiotherapist, a dietician, a pharmacist, or any other combination of healthcare professionals.

The point would be for your file to be with a clinic and when you sought treatment you would be triaged and directed to the appropriate caregiver.

This method would also allow your health record to stay within a practice so even if one of the members left, your record would be accessible, and you could still receive care.

Throughout the question-and-answer period the health minister hinted at new legislation that would be introduced during the upcoming sitting of the Legislature to remove obstacles from healthcare workers.

“Everything is focused right now on healthcare,” said Thompson. “There are barriers that sometimes we don’t always see, and we want to remove those.”

When pressed on which barriers her department would like to remove Thompson said, “How do we use people to the fullness of their scope? How do we ensure that there’s mobility so people can move into the province easily and making sure that we’ve modernized those systems.”

Thompson says how government will meet those goals will be revealed when the Legislature reconvenes March 21.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
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NDP Caucus in Mahone Bay. Leader Claudia Chender is fourth from the right. Photo Nova Scotia NDP

NDP Leader Claudia Chender says Nova Scotians want proof that improvements are being made to the healthcare system.

Chender made the comments at the party’s caucus meeting being held in Mahone Bay Monday.

She says every week Nova Scotians hear government is making healthcare better while the number of people without access to primary care keeps growing.

“We just get sort of assurances that things are getting better but no evidence that things are getting better,” said Chender. “If you talk to the average Nova Scotian, I have yet to have a conversation in the last six months with anybody about health care who would argue that anything has improved people are seeing a steady decline and it’s, it’s very concerning.”

Chender sees a need for more long-term care facilities to open more beds in hospitals.

“In Dartmouth for instance, at any given time around half of the inpatient beds at the Dartmouth General Hospital are patients who have been approved for long term care. They don’t need to be there. It is clear that we need more long-term care,” said Chender. “The Liberal government built almost no long-term care beds in over eight years, and we pushed for it that whole time and I think we’re seeing some of the results of that now in the challenges were having in our hospitals.”

Chender says a model based on the collaborative care centres which her party began to implement when they were in power would provide people with access to healthcare professionals.

She says combining multiple ways to access care under one roof would allow a person to come in, be triaged and then directed to the appropriate caregiver.

“We believe that we every Nova Scotia needs to be attached to a single practice. That may not mean that you get to see a doctor all the time. You might see a nurse practitioner, you might see a physician assistant, you might see a pharmacist or social worker depending on what you need, but your file lives in a certain place and your care is coordinated,” said Chender.

The NDP leader says considering the number of baby boomers heading into retirement and needing medical care, it’s widely recognized people will have to adjust to the reality of not having a family doctor, not just in this province but across the country.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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