Doctors shortage increases importance of pharmacy clinics in N.S.

As a record number of Nova Scotians are without a family doctor, the success of pharmacy-led primary care clinics is crucial to providing healthcare in the province.

“Since February 2023, we are hitting around 180 to 185,000 services in these clinics so it’s a large number of services. We have seen a significant reduction in ER visits, we have huge patient satisfaction numbers around accessing these clinics,” says Allison Bodnar the CEO of the Pharmacy Association of Nova Scotia.

The pilot Project was centre-stage at the Neighbourhood Pharmacies Expo in Halifax on Wednesday.

“We wanted to demonstrate, to show how successful this model has been in engaging our pharmacy professionals to work to their full scope,” says Bodnar.

“We think that it’s phenomenal what is happening here in Nova Scotia,” adds Ontario-based pharmacist, Sandra Hanna.

The model is becoming the envy of the rest of Canada.

“A number of provinces are advancing the scope and expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists, and I think we are seeing it out of necessity because there are gaps in the healthcare system,” Hanna says.

Those gaps go back to doctor shortages. As of June 1, a total of 160,234 Nova Scotia residents do not have a family doctor. Almost 2,000 people were added to the waitlist in May.

“For those people, it’s really important to me that they have some options. That they’re just not alone and the pharmacies are sort of the go to for a lot of those people for a lot of things,” Premier Tim Houston says.

There might be more primary care clinics on the way, as international recruiting efforts seem to be working.

“We had our first two from New Zealand land and we have six more in progress,” Bodnar says.

Another step toward expanding Nova Scotia‘s pharmacy care program.

The pilot project was supposed to come to an end on April 30 but work is being done to make it a permanent healthcare option.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.