Number of Nova Scotians in need of family doctor reaches highest level yet
In May, need-a-family-practice registry had net increase of nearly 1,900 people
As Nova Scotia's population continues to grow, so does the number of people in the province without a doctor.
The latest numbers posted on Nova Scotia's need-a-family-practice registry show 160,234 people are on it as of June 1. That represents about 16.2 per cent of the province's population.
The numbers are rising dramatically. In the month of May alone, 4,917 people were added to the registry while 3,058 came off of it, a difference of 1,859.
"The actual growth of the registry is actually starting to level and flatten," said Colin Stevenson, the chief of system integration with Nova Scotia's Department of Health and Wellness.
"If you look back four or five months ago, we were seeing growth in the registry that was close to 3,000 a month, so it actually has dipped down."
But no matter how officials crunch the numbers, it's still at an all-time high and there was a net increase of just 10 family physicians in Nova Scotia last year.
In Halifax, hundreds more are about to be added to the registry when Dr. Finlay Spicer retires in two weeks.
"It's a big blow to our family because it's me, my mother, who is 80 years old, my daughter, who is a Type 1 diabetic, my granddaughter and my daughter's father, who will all be losing Dr. Spicer," said Rhonda Blackburn, who was waiting for her appointment to see her doctor for the last time.
"We're just not prepared for this."
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Longtime patient Sue Manser said her options are limited.
"The thought of swinging in the wind without a doctor, it hits you right in the gut," said Manser. "I can see us spending hours in emerg, tying up valuable resources on issues normally handled by him."
Regional challenges
There are areas of the province where a higher concentration of people are looking for a doctor. In South Cumberland, which includes Oxford, Parrsboro and Springhill, more than 30 per cent of the population is on the registry.
Yarmouth is almost as bad with more than 25 per cent of the population signed on.
It's not just a rural issue either. Halifax Citadel, which includes part of the peninsula and where immigration numbers are high, has nearly 23 per cent of the population on the list.
Premier Tim Houston made fixing health care a priority for his government when he became premier in the summer of 2021. In March, the premier said the list was outdated and his government's focus was on opening new pathways to care for people in need
Opposition parties say the numbers on the registry simply speak for themselves.
"Health care is not getting fixed and that's despite record spending," said NDP Leader Claudia Chender. "That suggests to us that their priorities are not the right ones."
The provincial government has taken steps to try to cut into the list by increasing doctor recruitment efforts in places such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The process to recognize the credentials of doctors from some countries has also been streamlined in an effort to get more people working here sooner. But those measures aren't getting results.
"If people don't have a family doctor and they have health conditions that are complicated, they're just going to get more ill and they'll be showing up in our hospitals," said Zach Churchill, Liberal party leader.
"If we don't deal with this family-doctor issue, the rest of our health-care system is not going to get better, it's just going to get worse."
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