°µÍø½ûÇø

The premier said the province is gradually “moving the needle,� but he conceded that the number of new doctors practising in Nova Scotia needed to be higher.

“Our efforts of the last 18 months are showing tangible results,� Houston told reporters. “We’ll need more (doctors) but my commitment to Nova Scotians is that they will have access to care they need when they need it, and I think we are seeing that through a number of access points.�

Other than recruiting more doctors, the government, Houston said, has been working to increase access to primary care through mobile clinics, virtual care, urgent treatment centres and pharmacy clinics.

“Our focus is on access,� he said. “Physicians provide access, but there are other channels.�

As an example, the premier said that a pilot project involving 12 pharmacy clinics dealt with more than 4,000 strep tests between Feb. 1 and the end of April.

“We know where those tests (patients) would have went — they would have gone to the emergency departments,� Houston said, suggesting that the pilot reduced pressure on hospitals.

The statistics show that Nova Scotia’s health authority hired 155 doctors, while IWK Health hired 13. Of the doctors who were recruited last year, 78 are family doctors and 90 work in other specialties. Nova Scotia is still missing 73 specialists and 96 family doctors, the province says.

Meanwhile, between June 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023, the number of Nova Scotians who registered to find a doctor rose from 94,855 to 145,003 — an increase of 52 per cent on a trend line that has consistently pointed upward.

This report by °µÍø½ûÇø was first published May 18, 2023.