N.S. PCs vow to build Canada's first menopause centre; Liberals promise 20 new collaborative clinics

The Nova Scotia Liberals and Progressive Conservatives both made health-care announcements on the campaign trail Wednesday.

The PCs are promising to invest in better menopause care while the Liberals announced plans to build more collaborative care clinics.

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Claudia Chender took part in a live radio interview in Halifax and spoke with residents at the Dartmouth Seniors Service Centre.

PCs promise better menopause care

PC Leader Tim Houston says if re-elected his government would invest in Canada’s first-ever Menopause Centre of Excellence. The centre would be dedicated to managing symptoms related to perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause in women over 40.

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“There are nearly 350,000 women in Nova Scotia over the age of 40 who are managing menopause, post-menopause or approaching menopause. Traditionally these women have not received the attention they deserve from our health-care system,” said Houston in a statement.

“We’re going to fix that by providing the improved access to specialized care that these women deserve.”

The PCs say they would work with Dr. Maria Migas and Dr. Shawna O’Hearn, co-founders of the Menopause Society of Nova Scotia, to establish the new clinic.

Houston says the clinic would offer the following health services:

• family doctor and primary care providers
• physiotherapist
• psychologist
• dietician
• occupational therapist
• obstetrician-gynecologist
• urogynecologist

“This clinic will reduce wait times for women seeking care, allow for self-referrals, all while reducing the pressure on the IWK,” said Houston.

“It will provide answers when there are questions and a path to care and treatment when it is needed.”

Start-up costs for the clinic are expected to be in the range of $4 million, with annual costs of roughly $2.4 million.

The PCs say they would also explore adding new MSI billing codes for menopause counselling.

Liberals to build more collaborative care clinics

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill says his party would build 20 new collaborative care clinics and expand 20 existing clinics across the province to improve access to primary care.

Collaborative care clinics can include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals working under one roof – a model Churchill says improves working conditions, reduces administrative burden, and keep doctors in Nova Scotia.

The Liberals say adding more collaborative care clinics would “put a halt to the skyrocketing doctor waitlist.” As of Oct. 4, Nova Scotia Health said there were still 145,114 Nova Scotians on the doctor waitlist.

“We need to re-think our approach to health care,” said Churchill in a statement. “Our plan today will make sure people across the province can get the care they need, when they need it, and where they need it.”

The Liberals would also double the annual incentives for physicians – from $5,000 to $10,000 – if they agree to join a collaborative care practice and increase their patient rosters. The party would also introduce bonuses and incentives of up to $15,000 for health professionals who commit to working at a collaborative care clinic for a minimum of five years.

“Collaborative care centres are the way forward for primary care in this province,” said Churchill.

“More places with doctors, nurses, and other health professionals under one roof is how we’ll keep people out of emergency rooms, reduce wait times, and make sure people have access to primary care close to home.”

The party estimates it would spend about $2 million to build each new clinic, for a total of $40 million.

The Liberals plan to spend a total of $15,270,000 annually in capital and staffing.

NDP slams PCs and Liberals

NDP Leader Claudia Chender is slamming the Liberals and PCs for "broken promises" on health care, saying past governments failed to tackle the crisis.

"The Liberals had eight years to fix this and their austerity measures, by all measures, made it worse and meanwhile the Tories, who have been here for three years, who were elected to fix health care, have done nothing to improve it," Chender told CTV News.

The NDP says they will unveil their health-care platform soon.

"We absolutely think that primary care is the focus and the answer to the issue in front of us and we look forward to talking about that in the next week or so," said Chender.

Election day is Nov. 26, though early voting started Wednesday.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic's Jesse Thomas

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.