Still no answers on Nova Scotia’s doctor waitlist, 4 months after last update

HALIFAX – It’s been four months since the Need a Family Practice Registry was last updated and Nova Scotians are still in the dark about how many people are waiting to be attached to primary care.

As of June 1, there were 160,234 people on the registry, representing 16.2 per cent of the population. The Houston government claims the delay is due to work to verify that everyone on the list still needs a family doctor.

“We understand the importance of keeping the list up to date, but the Houston government should tell Nova Scotians how many people have been added in the last three months. Why are they hiding these numbers?” said NSNDP Leader Claudia Chender. “The Conservatives continue to maintain that access to sporadic care is good enough. We disagree. This government was elected on a promise to fix health care, and attaching Nova Scotians to primary care is a key metric for Nova Scotians to determine if that promise is being kept.”

During the fall legislative session, New Democrats tabled legislation that would require the Minister of Health and Wellness to make the Need a Family Practice Waitlist data publicly available by the 15th of each month.

“An entire season has passed since the registry was last publicly updated and we believe they can report the most recent numbers while still continuing to triage the list,” said Susan Leblanc, NSNDP Health Spokesperson. “This is more of the same from a government that prefers to operate in secret rather than loop Nova Scotians in on their plans. The thousands of people waiting for a primary health care provider deserve answers.”

The Need a Family Practice Registry has more than doubled since the Houston government was elected in August 2021.

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