Rethinking Health(care)
We need to rethink how we approach healthcare in this province, from increasing the availability of primary care providers to keeping hospitals and emergency rooms open. We’ll fundamentally change the NSHA business practices to increase availability of Collaborative Care and Primary Care Clinics embedded in communities. We must remain focused on attaching people to primary care providers to ensure every Nova Scotian can access the healthcare they need and manage their own health outcomes. But we also aren’t going to fix healthcare unless we focus on our health more broadly. That means broader access to preventative screening, more gyms, recreation centers, and parks, a focus on anti-poverty and housing-first policies to keep people healthy and out of the ER, closing the gap on women’s health, supporting chronic care and home care, and making more investments in health research and the health economy.
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Build and Expand 40 Collaborative Care Clinics Across Nova Scotia
We have a shortage of family doctors, and we need to do more to get Nova Scotians the care they need. The Municipality of Clare has a phenomenal primary care model that is fully staffed with healthcare professionals eager to work there. Healthcare professionals have also told us that they want to practice in such a collaborative setting. These clinics improve working conditions, reduce administrative burden, and keep doctors in Nova Scotia.
We can emulate this model province-wide, put a halt to the skyrocketing family doctor waitlist, and attach patients to primary care providers.
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will implement a collaborative care model province-wide by building and expanding 40 collaborative health care clinics across the province. We’ll work closely with existing clinics to make sure they’re running efficiently and are able to take on more patients.
We will increase the annual incentive for physicians from $5,000 to $10,000 if they agree to join a collaborative care practice and increase their patient rosters. We will also introduce bonuses and incentives of up to $15,000 for allied health professionals who commit to working at a collaborative health clinic for a minimum of 5 years.
Initially, we will focus on areas of the province that have the highest percentage of their residents currently waiting on a family doctor:
- New Glasgow – 26.1% of population on the registry (8,890 people)
- Yarmouth – 25.3% … (6,284 people)
- Bridgewater – 22.9% … (6,382 people)
- Bedford – 22.4% … (10,395 people)
- Amherst – 20.9% … (2,834 people)
- Sackville – 20.7% … (10,082 people)
- Halifax Peninsula – 20.1% … (13,852 people)
- Clayton Park – 20% … (7,784 people)
- Middleton – 17.7% … (3,930 people)
- Sydney – 16.9% … (8,430 people)
- Dartmouth/Cole Harbour: 15.3% … (20,237 people)
Cost estimate: Cost estimate: $15.1M/year
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Recruit More Doctors and Health Professionals
A Nova Scotia government will put a halt to the skyrocketing family doctor waitlist by expanding the number of training positions for family doctors, accelerating pathways for international medical students, and reducing the administrative burden for family physicians.
We will forgive up to 20% of an in-demand health professional’s student loan annually for up to 5 years, based on the number of hours of in-person service.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $3.3M/year
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Recruit More Physician Assistants
A Physician Assistant is a crucial role in meeting the growing demands of our health care system and expanding collaborative care in Nova Scotia, but there are currently only 19 physician assistants in the province. We will double annual funding to the program to get more physician assistants trained and able to provide healthcare.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $4M in additional funding to expand seats and $1.5M/year ongoing
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Invest in Annapolis Valley Healthcare
The Houston government has let healthcare in the Annapolis Valley fall apart. Emergency rooms are closed, healthcare wait times are long, and Nova Scotians have been left without access to care throughout the Valley. We will invest to re-open emergency rooms, build collaborative care clinics, and begin work on a new hospital to serve the Annapolis Valley region.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $3M
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Improve Health Data Collection
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that Nova Scotia’s healthcare system data is reliable, accountable, and keeps Nova Scotian patients informed about our healthcare system. We will ensure family doctor waitlists and other healthcare data portals are updated monthly, reflecting actual wait times and data. We will also improve patient data protection to prevent cybersecurity breaches.
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Expand Early Screening
Focusing on preventative health is a good investment in our population. We must significantly expand early screening for illnesses that affect Nova Scotians, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. We’ll ensure Nova Scotians can access early diagnosis by building three new diagnostic centers for excellence throughout our province. We will also expand screening for Nova Scotians with high risk factors for disease, like women with dense breasts.
Cost estimate: Cost estimate: $60M
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Improve Access to Recreation
We need to expand access to gyms, recreation centers, parks, trails, and public programming to ensure that there are no barriers to anyone, no matter their level of ability, who wants to make healthier choices. A Nova Scotia Liberal government will:
- Invest to improve 100 local trails and community recreation infrastructure projects across the province,
- Remove the provincial HST from gym memberships, and
- Run a pilot project to evaluate the effect of providing free recreation center memberships.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $8.35M/year
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Increase Access to Menstrual Products
The cost of menstrual products adds to the financial burden that Nova Scotians bear. To reduce barriers and ensure equal access to these much-needed products, especially for low-income Nova Scotians, it is important to have them available in easily-accessible spaces.
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that all provincial buildings will have free menstrual products accessible to the public.
Cost estimate: Cost estimate: $346K
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Improve Home Care and Aging-in-Place Initiatives
Our aging population requires improved home care and aging-in-place initiatives. Nova Scotians tell us they want to stay in their homes and retain their independence as they age, plus these initiatives usually result in better health outcomes. We will increase programs that support upgrading seniors’ homes so they can age in place. We will also train and hire more home care workers to ensure seniors get the care they need.
Cost estimate: Cost estimate: $10M/year
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Create a Minister of Women’s Health
Our system has failed women, with some facing significant challenges getting diagnosis and treatment—and it needs to end. Women deserve better from our healthcare system. To address this, we will name a Minister of Women’s Health to ensure that, throughout the system, a gender lens is applied to the delivery of healthcare, and a blueprint is adopted for improving women’s health. This will help us tackle specific health issues women are facing in this province, like endometriosis and ovarian cancer.
Cost estimate: Cost estimate: $2M
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Close the Gap on Women’s Health Research
We must ensure that an appropriate amount of research funding in the healthcare field is being put towards women’s health. A Nova Scotia Liberal government would require 50% of all research funding in the province be used to study women’s health. In addition, we will re-establish the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health to address current gaps, enhance research on women’s health issues, and strengthen the Nova Scotian health system response to the specific health needs and concerns of women in our province.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $6M for first year, $2M/year ongoing
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Make Parking Free at Nova Scotia Health Sites
When Nova Scotians have to go to a medical appointment, they shouldn’t have to worry about paying for parking. A Nova Scotia Liberal government will make parking free at all Nova Scotia Health sites, saving Nova Scotians money as they access our healthcare system. We’ll also work to ensure that the QEII development includes additional parking for staff and patients.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $10M/year
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Improve Mental Health Care
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will invest in mental health walk-in clinics, equitably distributed throughout the province, to give Nova Scotians more access to mental health care. These would be attached to our collaborative care centres to offer more health services where people need them.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $5M/year
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Implement Anti-Poverty Measures as Health Care
A health lens needs to be applied to our current housing crisis as well as Nova Scotia’s poverty rate. A Nova Scotia Liberal government would recognize the link between poverty, housing, and healthcare, and focus on anti-poverty and housing-first policies as a way to keep people out of the emergency room.
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Ensure Nova Scotians Can Travel to Receive Necessary Care
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will establish an independent adjudicative agency to quickly rule on out-of-province medical care requests. This will ensure that Nova Scotians are able to travel outside of the province to receive lifesaving care if it isn’t available in Nova Scotia, and we’ll let experts—instead of politicians—decide the criteria for those decisions.
Cost estimate: No additional spending required.
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More Support for Those Fleeing Intimate Partner Violence
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will expand initiatives detailed by the Mass Casualty Commission to put a stop to the epidemic of intimate partner violence. We’ll create an office in the Department of Health to work closely with groups across the province to take a public health approach towards preventing intimate partner violence.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $5M
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Protect Veterans Access to Long-Term Care
Our Veterans have served our country and deserve our support. Veterans have been promised beds in long-term care facilities, but Tim Houston isn’t honouring that promise. A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that Veterans are able to access the long-term care beds that they have been promised.
Cost estimate: No additional spending required.
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Expand Hospice Care
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will enhance hospice care programs. We’ll work with communities and non-profit groups to identify hospice sites and build new hospice spaces throughout the province.
Cost estimate: Total cost: $6M/year
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Fix the QE2 Redevelopment Boondoggle
A Nova Scotia Liberal government will give Nova Scotians the transparency they deserve with the largest healthcare infrastructure project of our generation. The QE2 redevelopment project should be nearing project completion, but instead we are less than halfway done with the planning phase. The public ought to know why and how this project went off the rails. We will get to the bottom of it, inform the public, and get this project back on track.
Cost estimate: No additional spending required.