'Don’t get sick on a Friday,' Bedford, N.S., MLA tells health committee

Despite data and testimony from health officials reporting progress on emergency health-care access, a Nova Scotia Liberal MLA says the system is still not up to standard.

“Don’t get sick on a Friday,” said Bedford Basin MLA Kelly Regan, who shared her daughter’s personal health-care experience which started with gallbladder attacks during her pregnancy and was followed by acute pancreatitis after giving birth.

Regan didn’t plan to share the story but felt compelled after what she described as “bragging” by health officials appearing before a public accounts committee on Wednesday.

“I’ve spent more time in hospitals this past year than I have ever in my entire life,” said Regan, who was frustrated by the testimony by health officials suggesting improvements are being made.

That’s not the experience Regan is hearing from her constituents, nor is it the experience she felt while her daughter spent weeks in hospital.

“When I hear bragging about the waitlist and everything, that is great and that’s important but it’s not the full story,” said Regan.

Officials from the Department of Health and Wellness, Nova Scotia Health, and emergency ambulance services provided an update on emergency care and took questions from politicians on progress made.

Wait times have drastically dropped at emergency departments from eight hours down to an average of 4.2 hours due to new care strategies, said an official with Nova Scotia Health.

Colin Stevenson, the chief of system integration with the Department of Health and Wellness, said you don’t fix one aspect of the health-care system without looking at the entire operation.

“Historically, I think everybody went to an emergency department because an emergency department is what they have known,” said Stevenson, who suggests patients are finding access to other care options.

Stevenson notes expanded services like primary care and mobile clinics, virtual care, and community pharmacy clinics are just some examples of improved access to care helping reduce emergency department visits.

“We are seeing that sort of coincide in a reduction in the use of emergency departments,” said Stevenson.

Ambulance wait times improving

Ambulance offload and wait times are improving significantly, says the service provider, as they continue to sees improvements in key statistics but “more work needs to be done.”

“Since January we have been able to lower response times across the province by 36 per cent,” said Matthew Crossman, president and CEO of Emergency Medical Care Inc., which manages ambulance services across Nova Scotia.

Offload times have improved and are actively being addressed, said Crossman, but they continue to deal with an increased volume in calls for ambulance care.

“Last year we responded to almost 200,000 calls across the province. It was one of our busiest years yet,” said Crossman.

Across the province there are almost 70 vacancies that need to be filled but they are showing improvements in retention and Crossman credits a new contract agreement in place that has increased pay and improved morale among staff.

Doctor wait-list grows

Meanwhile, the number of Nova Scotians without access to a family doctor continues to grow. At last check there were more than 160,000 patients who are unattached to a health-care provider, putting pressure on the system.

At the public accounts committee Wednesday, it was revealed the province won’t share or update that list until they have called everyone who is registered.

“We’re working right now to validate and get more information so that the list no longer just lives as a list on a spreadsheet,” said Dana MacKenzie, deputy minister with the Department of Health and Wellness.

“It becomes a dataset that has more information that allows us to be more responsive with respect to how we can help navigate Nova Scotians who may not have a primary care provider to the care they need, at the time they need it.”

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