The number of Nova Scotians without a family doctor reached an all-time high, with more than 100,000 people on the waiting list this month.
Since the list went public in 2018, more than 50,000 people have added their names to it.
A news release from the NDP caucus says it’s a somber milestone as tens of thousands of families in Nova Scotia struggle to access health care.
“Neither Houston’s conservatives nor the liberals before them have been able to make a dent in making sure people have a primary care provider,” Susan Leblanc, a spokeswoman for NDP Health and Wellness, said in a news release. “While there has been some progress in hiring, that can only go so far when we see scores of doctors retiring or leaving the province each year. There has to be a retention plan as well.”
According to a statement from the NDP, most of the people who added their names to the waiting list last month did so because their doctor retired, moved or closed his practice.
Evelyn Hornbeck is one of thousands waiting for a family doctor. She says she was forced to add her name to the waiting list in October when her doctor abruptly dropped out.
“It has been very stressful having to be without a family doctor. I take prescription drugs that I can’t get at an outpatient clinic and it feels like a ticking time bomb coming on me with my prescription running low,” Hornbeck said. “I put myself on the list, but there is no guarantee and it does not appear that the government of Houston is doing anything that the situation will improve anytime soon.”
In the month of June, the NDP says more than 7,000 people added their names to the list.
The Liberals came to power in 2013 after promising a doctor for every Nova Scotian, while the Houston government promised to fix the province’s health care system last year.
“What this list represents is tens of thousands of families struggling to ensure they have the primary care they need: young parents with children who can’t get vaccinated on time, seniors struggling to keep up with their prescriptions, and everyone in between. ”, said the leader of the NDP, Claudia Chender. “We hear it over and over again, big promises about health care when liberals or conservatives try to win power, but little to no action that really makes a difference to the people of Nova Scotia.”
The NDP says innovative and practical solutions are needed, including collaborative emergency centers and collaborative health teams across the province to ensure everyone can get the care they need, when and where they need it.
A press release from the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia says that one in 10 Nova Scotians currently do not have access to a primary care provider, a number that has increased by around 40 percent under the current government.
“No matter how you look at it, health care has gotten worse by every metric under Premier Houston,” Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said in a press release. “Hospitals are stretched thin, the waiting list for doctors is higher than ever, and there are no life-saving surgeries. It’s not enough to simply acknowledge the problem; Nova Scotians deserve the solutions they were promised.”
Churchill says Nova Scotia Health has made a commitment to provide access to virtual care for everyone on the registry by the end of June during a public accounts committee meeting on April 20. However, to date, only a fraction has been invited to benefit from the service, according to the party.
“Houston’s government has consistently reneged on critical campaign promises that Nova Scotians elected them on,” says Churchill. “More people than ever are alone when it comes to accessing health care because of this government’s mismanagement of the record.”
In May, Nova Scotia’s physician waiting list was about 92,000 people, which was a record at the time.