The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will close early on Friday. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed on Friday at 5 a.m. and reopen on Monday at 8 a.m.
The ER at Queens General is usually open 24 hours daily from 8 a.m. Monday to 1:30 p.m. Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Nova Scotia’s Department of Health advises people experiencing a medical emergency to dial 911. The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will also be open.
Virtual urgent care is available for limited services at Queens General daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day access clinic for new, emerging health problems that require urgent treatment by calling 902-354-3322.
Stephanie MacKenzie is the co-chair of the 2025 Queens General Hospital Hustle. (Rick Conrad)
A popular fundraiser for Queens General Hospital in Liverpool is back and organizers hope it will be bigger than ever.
People will be able to go to the hospital hustle in person for the first time since before the pandemic.
Stephanie MacKenzie, the co-chair of the 2025 Queens General Hospital Hustle, says the last time the fundraiser was held was an online version in 2021.
“The hospital hustle is just the community getting together to raise funds for extra equipment at our hospital. It was an annual event for 40 years until 2019,” MacKenzie explains.
“This is really important. It’s been a labour of love for us to try to bring it back and we want to make sure everybody knows it’s back, because it’s something that people really look forward to.”
The hustle this year will be held at the Liverpool Curling Club on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s organized by the Queens General Hospital Auxiliary, which also runs the hospital’s gift shop.
MacKenzie says the popular yard sale-style setup will return, along with food served by local Kiwanis Club members and doctors from the hospital. And nurses will be on hand to perform checkups on the little ones’ dolls or teddy bears.
“And we’ll have baked goods for people to buy and take home as well, and preserves, all the normal tables we have with jewelry, books, the big white elephant table, tools and we’re having a craft table as well.
“It’s hoped to be a family event and a lot of fun for the communtiy but an important fundraising event for the hospital. It’s important to show support for our hospital because it’s so very important to our community.”
Organizers are also planning a silent and live auction on the day of the hustle at the curling club. And for the first time, there will be an online Facebook auction, which will begin on Sept. 2, with items donated by local businesses.
All money raised this year will go toward buying a special cardiac monitor and a linear probe for the hospital’s new echocardiogram machine.
“This is an additional probe that will allow it to do more things. So people won’t have to go to Bridgewater to get these more specialized tests.”
MacKenzie says they hope to raise at least $20,000.
“But we think that we can raise more. In most of the recent years, we’ve raised $20,000 or more.”
They have about 30 volunteers helping out this year. But MacKenzie says they could always use more.
“Where we really need volunteers is on Sept. 7, we are moving all of the treasures that have been donated and stored at Milton Hall to the curling club. We have rented a moving truck to do that and we’re hoping to have enough people that we can stand there and pass the boxes along and just make it happen fairly quickly.”
Anyone who wants to volunteer at this year’s hospital hustle or donate any auction or sale items can email organizers at queenshospitalhustle@gmail.com.
You’ll also be able to buy raffle tickets to help. Volunteers will be selling them on Saturday at the Sobeys in Liverpool from 10 to 4.
Exterior of Queens General Hospital. Photo Ed Halverson
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed on Friday (July 11).
The ER had closed this Wednesday but reopened Thursday this week.
The ER is supposed to be open 24 hours daily from 8 a.m. Monday to 1:30 p.m. Friday. Nova Scotia Health gave no reason for the Wednesday or Friday closures.
In the past, officials have told QCCR it was because of inadequate staffing levels.
Virtual urgent care is available for some conditions at Queens General every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day clinic Monday to Friday for problems that require urgent treatment by calling 902-354-3322.
Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911. For general health advice and information, people can call 811 to speak to a registered nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed Wednesday. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed on Wednesday. It will reopen Thursday at 8 a.m.
The ER is usually open 24 hours daily from 8 a.m. Monday to 1:30 p.m. Friday. Nova Scotia Health gave no reason for the Wednesday closure.
Virtual urgent care is available for some conditions at Queens General every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day clinic for problems that require urgent treatment by calling 902-354-3322.
Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911. For general health advice and information, people can call 811 to speak to a registered nurse 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lauren Murphy is the director of recruitment and volunteer services with Nova Scotia Health. (Nova Scotia Health photo)
Nova Scotia Health is looking for more Nova Scotians to fill hundreds of jobs around the province.
The department is holding its second annual provincial career fair on Thursday (March 27) from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 11 locations around Nova Scotia.
The closest one for Queens County residents will be in Bridgewater at the Michelin Social Club, 221 Logan Rd.
Lauren Murphy, the director of recruitment and volunteer services with Nova Scotia Health, says last year’s event attracted about 3,000 people and led to more than 220 people being hired.
“It’s really an opportunity to showcase our roles and jobs and talk to Nova Scotians about our opportunities we have at Nova Scotia Health,” she says.
“Because we’re hosting it from coast to coast in the province it’s also an opportunity for people in their own communities to find a job there so they don’t have to leave.”
Murphy says job seekers will be able to speak to hiring managers from all parts of Nova Scotia Health.
“That’s also the beauty of showcasing the amount of positions that we have. We had admin staff hired … but we also had diagnostic imaging technologists, we had folks who are going to be supporting our pharmacies, we had (emergency) nurses and specialty nurses. It really was amazing to see the amount of people who showed up and were able to connect with a hiring manager and find a job.
“If you think about what it takes to run a hospital, obviously doctors are critical but there are so many more moving parts and pieces to it. We’re a 30,000-people employer. We’re Atlantic Canada’s largest and we really do cover everything you can think of.”
Murphy says being able to talk to somebody in person can help demystify the application process.
“Walking in there and being able to talk to people about such a wide variety is so much different than scrolling online and trying to doing your own research. … To be able to talk to someone who is living and breathing that job day in and day out … I really think that’s what bridges that gap between virtual and in-person.”
Job applicants will also be able to upload their resume using a QR code at the job fair. Murphy said Nova Scotia Health officials will follow up with applicants the week after the event who applied using the QR code to give them an update on their application.
She said she hopes to beat last year’s numbers, both for turnout and for hires.
“Any person that we can hire is a win. There are such amazing opportunites for internal advancement. So even if you take one job tomorrow, there’s a million different pathways you can take so you can have a fulsome career at Nova Scotia Health, which I think in a lot of companies these days, that’s pretty rare.”
More doctors and other health professionals from the U.S. want to move to Nova Scotia, according to Nova Scotia Health. (Province of Nova Scotia)
The unstable political situation in the United States may be good news for the Nova Scotia health care system.
More doctors and other health professionals working in the U.S. are looking to move north. One of the places they’re calling is Nova Scotia. And some of them also want to move to Queens County.
Lauren Murphy, director of recruitment and volunteer services with Nova Scotia Health, says they’ve seen an increase in applications from people from the U.S.
“Honestly, we’re hearing some pretty amazing stories,” she told QCCR this week.
“We’re hearing people who maybe have family members who are trans who don’t feel safe anymore. We’re hearing about people who are Canadians but have been living in the U.S. for years and working in their health care system and not feeling safe anymore and wanting to come back to Canada. We’re hearing from people who are internationally educated but living in the U.S. and again not feeling safe. It’s a scary time in the States and I do think people are seeing Canada as that safe space.”
Murphy said that the health care professionals reaching out to Nova Scotia Health recruiters are extremely qualified and experienced. They include doctors, nurses and other professionals.
“And the beauty is that the hospital setting in the U.S. is very very similar to what we have in Canada in terms of the level of care. And so being able to hire someone from the U.S., they can pretty much hit the ground running. As horrible as it is, maybe there is some silver lining that people can find a new home here in Nova Scotia and build roots and bring family or create families, and that’s great for our economy and great for us as a province.”
Murphy did not say how many doctors or other health professionals are interested in making the move from the U.S. to Nova Scotia.
According to data obtained in January 2024 by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, more than 1,000 health-care positions were still waiting to be filled in Nova Scotia. That includes professionals other than doctors and nurses.
And in March, about 96,000 Nova Scotians were still without a primary care provider. That was down from February’s number of just over 104,000. About nine per cent of the population is still looking for a family doctor or nurse practitioner.
Murphy acknowledged that there’s a global shortage of health-care professionals. Jurisdictions like Nova Scotia have been looking in other countries to fill those spots.
The process can take some time, especially as candidates navigate immigration and licensing requirements. Nova Scotia Health has its own immigration team to help make it easier for clinicians or other professionals to move here.
Nova Scotia recently opened a new centre to help speed up the licensing process for internationally trained physicians. It takes about 12 weeks to complete and doctors agree to practise in the province for at least three years.
Murphy says American-based doctors also ask her recruitment team about the differences in culture and taxation.
“It’s a huge step to move to a different country,” she said. “A lot of the conversations start off very exploratory. If you’re thinking about the U.S., you’re also potentially talking to a candidate who is coming from a state that doesn’t pay tax.
“But … we really are seeing people who are like, ‘No, we have to do this, we’re taking the plunge.’ And we’re really seeing those numbers now.”
Some of those doctors and other professionals are interested in moving to Queens County.
Dr. Al Doucet is the chair of the Queens General Hospital Foundation, which works with Nova Scotia Health to bring doctors to the area.
He was out of the country and unavailable for an interview Friday. But he said in a text message that the foundation is getting inquiries from physicians and physician assistants about moving here.
Nova Scotia Health recently named Liverpool-based Dr. Alison Freeman the MD recruitment and retention lead for the South Shore.
To help with those recruitment efforts, Nova Scotia Health is holding a provincial career fair on March 27 at 11 locations around the province. Officials will be at the Michelin Social Club in Bridgewater from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Murphy says the job fair targets Nova Scotians who are interested in a first-time position with Nova Scotia Health or transferring to a different part of the province. More than 220 people were hired through last year’s job fair.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed Friday. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool is closed Friday.
Nova Scotia Health issued a notice Thursday night that the ER would be closed temporarily until Mon., March 17 at 8 a.m. It gave no reason for the closure.
On Feb. 27, the department announced new “expanded and consistent” hours for the Liverpool ER. It would be open 24 hours a day from Mondays at 8 a.m. until Fridays at 1:30 p.m. and closed on weekends.
Leslie Oliver, the executive director of community and rural health in the western zone for Nova Scotia Health, told QCCR at the time that the new hours would provide patients with reliability.
“We don’t have any plans of going back to an inconsistent coverage schedule.”
Virtual urgent care is still available at the hospital from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.
Nova Scotia Health is holding a drop-in clinic in Caledonia on March 20. (Province of Nova Scotia)
Nova Scotia Health is holding a mobile primary care clinic in Caledonia next Thursday (March 20) from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The drop-in clinic will be held at the North Queens Community Health Centre.
Only certain health issues can be seen at the drop-in clinic. Nova Scotia Health says it can address only non-urgent conditions such as prescription refills or renewals, minor respiratory or gastrointestinal problems, muscle pain, rashes or urinary tract infections.
People are being asked to have their health cards and a list of their medications with them.
Medical staff will screen patients to make sure they can treat the concern at the clinic.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool is also now open 24 hours a day from Mondays at 8 a.m. to Fridays at 1:30 p.m.
Nova Scotia Health is also organizing drop-in clinics in Bridgewater at the Medical Arts Building on Glen Allen Drive. Those are set for Sun., March 16 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wed., March 26 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Sun., March 30 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Liverpool won’t have local emergency department services available on weekends, but it will have 24-hour service through the week.
Nova Scotia Health announced Thursday that it is introducing “expanded and consistent hours” for the Queens General Hospital emergency department.
Beginning March 1, the ER in Liverpool will be open for 24 hours from Mondays at 8 a.m. to Fridays at 1:30 p.m. It will close on Fridays at 1:30 p.m. until Mondays at 8 a.m.
Nova Scotia Health says the change increases the department’s weekly operating hours from about 35 to 101.5 hours.
Leslie Oliver, the executive director of community and rural health in the western zone for Nova Scotia Health, told QCCR on Friday that the new ER schedule in Liverpool will provide more service for patients.
“This temporary schedule that was developed in collaboration with the emergency staff and physicians really will be tripling the amount of hours that the emergency department is open for our community. This is a positive news story for our community.”
In the past few years, the emergency department at Queens General has been hit regularly with temporary closures.
Oliver says the new schedule will allow for better co-ordination with other hospital departments such as laboratory, diagnostic imaging and pharmacy services.
She said virtual urgent care for certain conditions like prescription refills, urinary tract infections or coughs and sore throats will still be available at the hospital seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A triage nurse will be on duty for that service during those times.
“And a great number of the patients in the community who are presenting for the emergency department they’re actually appropriate for that virtual urgent care stream so we would encourage them to take advantage of that opportunity as well.”
Oliver said there is still a significant nurse shortage in the department.
“We’ve been really committed to our recruitment efforts and that’s not going to change,” she said. “We want to make sure we have Nova Scotia nurses working within our emergency department for sure.”
She said they plan to stick with this schedule until they can hire enough staff to return the Queens General ER to a 24/7 operation.
“We’re hoping to provide this consistent ongoing coverage for the next several months, hoping to have more success in the recruitment area with more physicians coming on board and more nurses to support the department. We don’t have any plans of going back to an inconsistent coverage schedule. Our goal is to have that Queens emergency department open 24/7, 365 days a year.”
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be on reduced hours until Tuesday.
It will be closed:
from 1:30 p.m. Friday, February 14, and reopen Saturday, February 15 at 8 a.m.
from 1:30 p.m. Sunday, February 16 and reopen Monday, February 17 at 8 a.m.
from 1:30 p.m. Monday, February 17 and reopen Tuesday, February 18 at 8 a.m.
Virtual urgent care is available at Queens General seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. That’s only for certain things such as prescription refills, sinus congestion, coughs and sore throat, urinary tract infections, skin concerns, bites and stings, and mild or moderate aches and pains.
The ER at South Shore General Hospital in Bridgewater will be open.
Nova Scotia Health has paused the text message notification feature for appointments on the YourHealthNS app.. (Nova Scotia Government YouTube channel)
Nova Scotia Health is still working on glitches in its new text message and appointment reminder service through the YourHealthNS app.
It suspended the new features last Wednesday when some people reported getting incorrect information about their appointments.
At least 2,100 texts, or about 10 per cent of all messages, were sent to phones with the wrong information. Other messages weren’t clear whether the appointment was in-person or virtual. And some got notices of appointments that didn’t even exist.
Nova Scotia Health said Monday that it has introduced a seven-day delay before appointments appear in the YourHealthNS app.
Appointments will only appear for the coming month. And notifications will be stopped on specialist appointments not made through hospital booking systems, like private clinics.
The text message reminder feature will be on hold while officials test the changes and make sure they work properly, Nova Scotia Health said.
Morgan Sampson, echocardiogram technician, and Queens General Hospital Foundation trustees Kelly Whalen, Kerry Morash, Janice Reynolds and Al Doucet with the new echocardiogram at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool. (Queens General Hospital Foundation photo)
Queens County residents will be able to stay closer to home for vital testing, thanks to an investment by the Queens General Hospital Foundation.
The foundation recently invested almost $400,000 to install a new echocardiogram and cardiopulmonary exercise testing machine at Queens General in Liverpool.
Al Doucet, a retired physician who is chairman of the hospital foundation, said that means that cardiologists and internal medicine specialists can now see more people here.
“They’re significant because they bring to Liverpool testing that otherwise was not available anywhere else, people had to travel for this,” Doucet told QCCR.
“But also, people that are in hospital, that are hospital patients, this equipment, especially the echocardiogram, it’s movable so that it can go up to the floors where people are sick so they don’t even have to come out of their hospital rooms and we can also use it on people who are sick in the emergency department.”
Queens General already has stress-testing equipment that involves patients using a treadmill to measure the heart’s response to physical activity.
But the new equipment uses a stationary bike to measure the response of your lungs as well. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Jeff Ratushny, who is based in Bridgewater, has a special interest in pulmonary stress testing, Doucet said.
“So this is an upgrade on our stress-testing equipment to add the pulmonary component to it. And that was really because Dr. Rathushny has a special interest in that. For our health professionasl that we have here, we want to give them the equipment that they need and that they want to give them the ability to come here and stay.”
The echocardiogram cost $275,000, while the exercise testing equipment cost $93,000. Those were just two of the significant contributions to health care in Queens County made by the foundation in the past year.
It has donated more than $1 million for equipment, training and other things to help attract more health professionals to the area and to make health care more accessible locally.
“Our mandate does not confine us to just the hospital. But everything that we look at it’s in the lens of how can we make this a better place to live for people, how can we make it the best place for care, how can we put the best equipment in that we can retain professionals that are coming to work here.”
The foundation is also contributing $725,000 toward the establishment of a new MRI machine at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater.
And Doucet said they’re investing up to $3.5 million in a new CT scanner at Queens General. He said they’re working with Nova Scotia Health to recruit the technicians to staff that equipment properly.
The foundation relies on donations and investments to fund its work. Doucet said its volunteer board of trustees is concerned about financing projects big and small.
Whether that’s a new floor-cleaning machine, doing things to help staff morale or sprucing up the outside of the hospital with art and gardens, he said it’s all part of making Queens General a better place to work and visit.
“There’s very few hospitals that you’ll see flowers that are blooming at the front door. So we want to make the hospital not so clinical and not so sterile. We want it to be an inviting place so that it reduces the anxiety people have as they come in.”
Doucet said the foundation has helped recruit six physicians to the area in the past two years. And thanks to things like their online presence, they’re also attracting other professionals like nurses to the area.
But he said there’s more to do. That’s why they continue to recruit with the goal of having the Queens General ER return to being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“The way it used to be when I was practising and the way it is now, things have definitely changed and we have to adapt to it. So having the foundation makes it at least easier for us to do that.”
For more information on the Queens General Hospital Foundation, visit their website at qghfoundation.ca, or their medical recruitment site at doctors-wanted.ca.
About 10 per cent of Nova Scotians are still looking for a family doctor or nurse practitioner. (Communications Nova Scotia)
More people are dropping off the Need a Family Practice Registry in Nova Scotia.
According to numbers released Tuesday by Nova Scotia Health, 9,200 people either found a doctor in the past month or were removed from the list.
Just over 110,000 Nova Scotians are still looking for a primary care provider. That’s down from more than 119,670 on Dec. 4. About 10.5 per cent of the population does not have reliable access to primary care.
Nova Scotia Health officials have been contacting people on the list to confirm they still need a doctor or nurse practitioner.
Health officials stopped providing breakdowns by region last summer. The last update in June showed that about 10 per cent of Queens County residents were still looking for a doctor or nurse practitioner.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed on Sunday. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will have reduced hours for the next few days.
It will close at 1:30 p.m. today (Friday) and reopen Saturday at 8 a.m. It will be closed again on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., all day Sunday and reopen on Mon., Dec. 30 at 8 a.m.
It will close again on Monday at 1:30 p.m. and reopen Tues., Dec. 31 at 8 a.m.
Virtual urgent care for certain things is available at Queens General Monday to Friday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will be open.
Nova Scotia Health advises anyone experiencing a medical emergency to call 911.
Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day clinic through the week for new health problems that require urgent treatment. Hours are based on provider availability. Clinic patients can call 902-354-3322 to book an appointment.
Michelle Thompson, Nova Scotia’s health and wellness minister, is warning of a potential strike by more than 9,000 health-care workers. (Communications Nova Scotia)
Nova Scotia’s health minister is warning the province’s health authorities to prepare for a possible strike by more than 9,000 health-care workers.
Michelle Thompson wrote a letter to the CEOs of the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK Health Centre. She said the province is committed to reaching a settlement.
Thompson said talks have been difficult but are continuing with the help of a conciliator.
“Each negotiated settlement and wage and benefit investment we have made has resulted in higher wages,” she wrote in the letter, released Tuesday by her department.
“Once again significant wage increases are on the table. At the same time, we have to be mindful of the taxpayer and make sure that we only commit to what is affordable to taxpayers, now and into the future.”
The employees are represented by three different unions – the NSGEU, CUPE and Unifor. The unions are negotiating as one body under a council of health-care unions.
Members represent more than 170 occupations in the health-care system – including those working in diagnostic imaging and laboratory, mental health and addictions, cancer therapy, paramedics, and community health.
The unions say many employees are now the lowest paid in Atlantic Canada and are struggling with severe staffing shortages.
Thompson said in the letter that the government is focused on “tough but fair” bargaining. She said they want an agreement without a strike, but that the province’s finances are stretched.
“The reality is that with a staggering provincial deficit, there is just no more to offer. We simply can’t sweeten the offer because the taxpayer is already stretched to their limit.”
In late July, Nova Scotia’s Finance Minister Allan MacMaster reported the province recorded a $143-million surplus on surging revenues. He said Nova Scotia brought in $1 billion more than expected last year.
This round of contract negotiations does not include doctors or nurses.
More information about ultrasound reports is now available on the YourHealthNS app. (Communications Nova Scotia)
Nova Scotians can now see more information from their ultrasound reports on the YourHealthNS app.
Scans completed from Aug. 5 onward were available as of Monday. The report includes the body part examined, the reason for the scan, findings and a comparison with any previous ultrasounds.
Results will be available 14 days after the ultrasound.
The reports will add to the information like date, time and location of the scan currently available through the app. Images won’t be available, according to a news release from Nova Scotia Health.
In July, the province expanded access to the health records in the app to everybody across the province, who are 16 and older with a valid Nova Scotia health card.
More than 309,000 ultrasounds were performed in Nova Scotia in 2023.
The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will be open.
Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day clinic, depending on provider availability, by calling 902-354-3322.
A mobile primary care clinic is scheduled to be at Queens General on Tuesday (July 30) from 1 to 4 p.m., Wednesday (July 31) from 1 to 4 p.m. and on Thursday (Aug. 1) from 9 a.m. to noon.
Nova Scotia Health staff are calling people on the need-a-family-practice registry to make sure they still need a primary care provider. (Pixabay)
A group of 40 student recruits has started calling Nova Scotians to see if they still need a family doctor.
And with more than 160,000 people across Nova Scotia on the need-a-family-practice registry, it’s going to be a busy summer.
Noella Whelan, the senior director of the primary care and chronic disease management network for Nova Scotia Health, is heading up the project.
She said the department did a similar telephone campaign last summer, when more than 152,000 were on the list. That resulted in more than 21,000 people identified who could be struck from the waitlist. It also resulted in 6,000 people being assigned a primary care provider.
“Our systems are not automated so it relies on the individuals that put their name on the list to take their names off the list,” she told QCCR.
“This is a more proactive mechanism for us to reach out to individuals and determine if they have already been connected to a primary care practice in Nova Scotia. And so often we do find that there are individuals that have been connected to a primary care provider who are still on the list.”
Whelan said they doubled the number of temporary staff making calls this summer, from 20 last year. She said there are about 10 other permanent Nova Scotia Health employees on the project in supervisory and co-ordinator roles. Hiring the student recruits will cost about $532,000, according to a Nova Scotia Health spokeswoman.
“We have heard from patients and families the concern about where to go for care,” Whelan said. “So we want to make sure we’re connecting with folks to understand, do they need a primary care provider? Do we have their contact information so that when we reach out to them do we have accurate information? … Out of the campaign last summer there were a number of tools developed to help individuals understand where to go for care. We just want to make sure that those that are waiting know where to access care.”
Operators will also be confirming with people whether their doctor has retired. Whelan says the department doesn’t always know if a general practitioner has retired.
“We want to make sure we’ve confirmed that and are able to then connect them to a primary care provider when one becomes available.”
Whelan says the project will also give Nova Scotia Health a chance to tell people where else they can access care while they wait for a doctor or nurse practitioner. Staff will also remind people to fill out the health questionnaire on the need-a-family-practice registration site. People can also use that form to remove themselves from the registry.
“I think it is money well spent. Certainly we’ve heard from the public, from patients’ families that they want a more direct contact with the system to understand how to navigate services.”
Calls will show up as either unknown name and number or from a blocked caller.
Staff won’t ask for any personal information besides the last four digits of your Nova Scotia health card and your birth date.
They will also ask for confirmation of your phone number and physical and email addresses.
“If they do receive a call and they are not able to respond, if we have their email on file, we’ll send them an email, and say, ‘We’ve attempted to call you, please call us back. Or we’ll make a call at this time during the next day or so.’ That way, Nova Scotians will know this is a legitimate initiative.”
Whelan said in the first week of calls, they haven’t had many people refuse to answer to give information.
“The students are just in a week or so of calls, so most folks are engaging in conversation and able to verify it is Nova Scotia Health calling. We certainly do have a few (refusals), but we expect that anyway.”
Nova Scotia Health will be calling people over the next several weeks to verify that they’re still looking for a primary care provider. (Pixabay)
If you’re one of the 1,100 people in Queens County still looking for a primary care provider, you may be getting a call from Nova Scotia Health.
Officials will be phoning people on the need-a-family-practice registry over the next several weeks to confirm whether they’re still looking for a doctor or nurse practitioner.
According to a release from Nova Scotia Health, people will be called from either a blocked number, one they don’t recognize or an unknown name and number.
Staff won’t ask you to provide any personal information besides the last four digits of your Nova Scotia health card and your birth date.
They will also ask for confirmation of your phone number and physical and email addresses.
According to the news release, this is so that the department can contact people when a doctor or nurse practitioner is available to take new patients.
Health staff will also be calling people who added their name to the list because their provider told them they’d be retiring. This is to confirm whether their doctor retired.
The registry hasn’t been updated since June 1. According to CBC News, opposition politicians this week accused the government of withholding up-to-date numbers on how many people still need a doctor or nurse practitioner.
As of June 1, 160,234 Nova Scotians were still on the registry. About 10 per cent of Queens County residents are still looking for a primary care provider. That compares to about 23 per cent of the population in the Bridgewater area.
QCCR will have an interview on Friday with Noella Whalen, the senior director of the primary care and chronic disease management network with Nova Scotia Health. Whalen is leading the project.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed at various times this weekend. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be on limited hours for the weekend and early next week.
It will be closed on Friday, Saturday (July 20), Sunday (July 21), Monday (July 22) and Tuesday (July 23) at 1:30 p.m. each day and reopen at 8 a.m. the next day.
For example, it will reopen on Saturday at 8 a.m., but close again at 1:30 a.m. and reopen Sunday at 8 a.m.
The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will be open.
Nova Scotia Health says that anybody experiencing a medical emergency should call 911.
Patients of the Queens Family Health same-day clinic can call 902-354-3322 to book an appointment through the week for new and emerging health problems, depending on provider availability.
You can also talk to a nurse for general health advice by calling 811, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
An X-ray technician is seen in this photo. X-ray reports will soon be available through the YourHealthNS app. (Communications Nova Scotia / File)
X-ray results will soon be available through the YourHealthNS app.
Nova Scotians will be able to see any X-rays done from July 15 onward. The results will be on the app 14 days after the scan.
The report includes findings from the X-ray, a comparison with any previous X-rays, the patient’s history and a summary. Images won’t be available.
“This is just the beginning as we plan to make more records and information available that will help Nova Scotians take a more active role in their health care, ” Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson said Monday in a news release.
Earlier this month, the Nova Scotia government expanded access to health records through the app to everybody in the province 16 and over with a valid health card.
That was after a three-month pilot project involving more than 13,000 patients at six clinics, including Queens Family Health in Liverpool.
The X-ray reports will be in addition to the other information available on the app, including lab and some test results, hospital and health visits, medications and immunizations.
More than 600,000 X-rays were performed in Nova Scotia in 2023.
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed at certain times this week.
It closed at 1:30 p.m. on Monday and will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m. It will close again on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. and reopen Wednesday at 8 a.m.
Patients of Queens Family Health can call 902-354-3322 to access the same-day clinic, depending on provider availability.
The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will be open.
As of June 1, 1,100 people in Queens County, about 10 per cent of the population, were still without a doctor or nurse practitioner. In Bridgewater, 6,382 people were on the waitlist. That’s almost 23 per cent of their population.
The board that operates Region of Queens Home Support in Liverpool has given notice that it will terminate its contract with the Nova Scotia government to provide home-care services. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED 2:30 p.m. Tuesday
A non-profit group that delivers home-care services in Queens County has decided to terminate its contract with the provincial government partly because of a “substantial” deficit.
Region of Queens Home Support has been providing services like personal care, respite care and meal preparation for people in their homes for more than 40 years.
The Queens Home for Special Care Society operates the agency. The board gave six months’ notice recently to the province that it would no longer run it. That means a new provider needs to take over by January.
But Christopher Clarke, the society’s chairman, says its 174 clients in Queens and Lunenburg counties won’t see an interruption in service, and employees will keep their jobs.
“For the clients, it will mean they will continue to get service,” Clarke said Monday in an interview.
“We have a strong commitment from government that they will continue to get service. For the employees, they will be working for another employer, but they will be providing service to the same clients as we currently have.”
A Facebook post from someone who said they have worked with Queens Home Support for more than 20 years was widely shared on Monday. She said she is a continuing care assistant and that staff were told on July 4 that Queens Home Support would be closing.
“Let me be clear before I say what’s on my mind – to any clients or family with clients under Queens Home Support – the transition is supposed to be smooth without much upset to the (clients’) routines, themselves or their daily care,” the post said in part. “They will continue to receive care as usual.”
The post also claimed that Queens Home Support’s deficit is $1.5 million.
Clarke confirmed that the agency has run a deficit the past two years. But he said that it isn’t as high as $1.5 million.
“We have a deficit, yes. The number is incorrect, but we have a deficit. I’m not going to go into that. It’s substantial, so we have to work through that with government.”
He said the deficit is one of many reasons why the board decided to end its contract with the province.
“There were a number of other problems too, but that’s the main issue that caused us to make the decision,” he said.
“I’m not prepared to go into them in any sort of detail.”
Much of the funding for Region of Queens Home Support comes from the province. Based on clients’ income and the kind of care they need, other costs may be paid by the client.
Clarke said the agency’s income dropped because their service hours decreased, but its expenses didn’t.
“We got compensated on the basis of service hours, those are hours that we actually service our clients. But there are a lot of overheads in addition to that, and those overheads don’t change even though your service hours diminish.”
Clarke emphasized that clients will continue to get care. And he said the approximately 60 employees will retain their jobs.
“Government has assured us that they will continue to provide the services we provide under another agency. … And the employees will all be virtually employed by whatever the new agency is.”
Kim Silver, director of home and community care with the provincial Department of Seniors and Long-Term Care, said Monday that when an agency notifies the province it’s winding down, officials immediately start looking for options to ensure services are maintained.
“Obviously, it’s concerning for clients and staff. For clients, they should know that there will be no impact to their care. The acting administrator has been in there for a little while now. She knows the organization well and she’ll continue to operate that organization until there’s a solid plan in place where we can seamlessly transition clients. In terms of staff, the plan certainly includes considerations for staff. We want to make sure everyone is treated fairly.”
Annette Hartlen, the agency’s executive director, is on leave. Kerry Hobbs, executive director of Lunenburg Home Support, is the interim director in Queens.
“We have options thankfully,” Silver said. “We’ve got a number of agencies in the province. Typically, we would have conversations with ones that make sense to see if they would be interested in taking over geographies. … We’re looking at other agencies in the area to support the clients.”
Silver said various factors could contribute to a reduction in service hours.
“Agencies are funded based on the number of service hours that they deliver on an hourly basis. So if service hours are lower, the funds the agency’s paid are lower. It could be a drop in clients, it could be that some clients have different care needs that might take a different amount of time. It could be that there’s more travel time involved. There are a whole lot of factors that can play into it.”
As for Queens Home Support’s deficit, Silver said that will be worked out between the province and the organization.
“It’s really about the sustainability of the organization. It’s a deficit that’s built up over time and would continue to be added to if the agency kept going.”
Queens MLA Kim Masland posted to her Facebook page on Tuesday morning and said that she’s working to make sure there’s no interruption in service.
“I commit to updating the community frequently as plans become finalized,” she said. “I want to be very clear that government did not cut funding!”
Clarke said that cancelling the home-care agreement was a tough decision for the board to make.
“Obviously, it’s not a decision that the board made lightly and obviously none of us feel good about it, but it’s something we had to do.”
Silver said they should have more information for clients and staff in the next few weeks.
“We’re working with the board to put a plan in place, to make sure people continue to get care, and that employees are treated fairly. Our primary focus obviously is our commitment to client care, so we’re working on solutions to make sure that we can continue that and have a smooth transition.”
Most of the agency’s clients live in Queens County, but a few live in neighbouring Lunenburg County. Clarke said that’s left over from when the agency had too many employees for its Queens County clients, so it took on some from the county next door.
