Nova Scotia's primary care waitlist drops once again

The list of people looking for a primary care provider in Nova Scotia shrank last month.

Nova Scotia Health removed 2,193 people from the Need a Family Practice Registry in March, bringing the total down to 93,682 — or about nine per cent of the population. The provincial government says it's aiming to get the number down to five per cent, or about 50,000 people.

The latest numbers were issued Monday in a news release from the health authority. The release did not provide a breakdown of how many people have been attached to primary care providers in the past month, nor did it say how many were removed from the list through an ongoing validation process.

Nova Scotia Health has been calling people on the list since last summer to find out if they still need a provider. 

The list — which some people look to as an indicator of how well the health-care system is working — is at its lowest point since 2022. It reached a peak of about 160,000 last June before the health authority stopped posting updates online.

Public updates in the form of news releases resumed several months later, and the size of the list has been shrinking ever since. The updates include the current tally and change from the month prior, but they no longer contain the level of detail they previously did, such as the need for a family physician broken down by community.

The change has drawn criticism from the opposition, who say the restriction of public reporting makes it difficult to assess whether real progress is being made.

Earlier this year, the health authority removed all registry information from its data reporting website, and Health Minister Michelle Thompson said that's how it will remain at least until the authority's validation is complete.

She provided no timeline for the work and would not commit to restoring the information on the online data dashboard.