Nova Scotia's tally of people waiting on a family practice could be offline for months to come

It's been three months since Nova Scotia has publicly updated the registry of people who don't have a primary health-care provider, and the wait for new numbers could press on for months to come.

For years, the province has been providing data at the start of each month about the Need A Family Practice Registry. There have been a few small dips month to month, but generally the tally has been growing, outpacing population growth. 

Many people look to it as an indicator of how well the health-care system is working, but the last time they could reference a current number was in June, when the registry hit a record 160,234 people — about 16 per cent of Nova Scotians.

Karen Oldfield, interim president and CEO of Nova Scotia Health, said the registry hasn't been updated publicly because the health authority is verifying who's on it, and changing the way it functions.

"Once upon a time this was a list, a list of names. Now we are creating a tool that we can actually use," she told reporters Wednesday.

Oldfield said additional information gathered through that verification process will help the health authority triage based on health-care needs and better understand the primary care shortage in different parts of the province.

She said starting July 1, a team of 44 people started calling everyone on the list to check that they still need a family practice, and ask for their postal code and their personal health conditions.

Oldfield said the possibility of releasing a progress report before verification is complete is under discussion, but she would prefer to finish the work rather than put it out "on a piecemeal basis."

The health authority has verified the list before. Last year, the process shaved 10,000 people off the list. That time, it was offline for two months. 

Oldfield wouldn't put a precise timeline on the current project, but said it would be months.

NDP calls for monthly update

This week, the Nova Scotia NDP tabled a bill that would require an update of the Need A Family Practice Registry on the 15th of every month.

"We cannot measure whether the government is doing the one thing they told Nova Scotians they were gonna do," said NDP leader Claudia Chender, speaking to reporters Tuesday at Province House.

Her party's bill, the Healthcare Accountability and Transparency Act, is unlikely to pass in the House where the Tories have a majority.

"This is a government who pledged to fix health care, and it is very clear, based on the opinions of experts across this country and the experiences of people across this province, that the way to fix health care is to attach people to primary care," Chender said.

Chender said she hopes to see an update before the end of the fall sitting of the legislature.

Liberal MLA Kelly Regan said she thinks the PC government is deliberately holding back information for political gain.

"About 30 seconds before they call an election … they'll just miraculously have taken a bunch of people off the list," she told reporters Wednesday.

Oldfield vehemently rejected that idea.

"I can unequivocally tell you that is not what's happening … It was NSH [Nova Scotia Health] that drove the bus on this."

Health minister defends process

Health Minister Michelle Thompson said the Need A Family Practice Registry provides important information and her department is not trying to "hide" anything, rather they're trying to improve the system.

She said it's worth going offline for the sake of gathering more granular information, for instance, whether someone needs prenatal or diabetes care.

"I appreciate the validation is taking longer than people expected and I'm OK with that because I know people are having valuable conversations with folks who are connecting them to care and understanding their health-care needs," said the health minister.