New website allows Nova Scotians to track provincial health-care data
The Nova Scotia government has launched a new website that allows people to track the province’s health-care data.
The province says the Action for Health website is the first if its kind in Canada.
“We don't believe there's any other jurisdiction in the country that's sharing this level of data,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson.
The data had previously been available internally, but will now be shared publicly on a regular basis.
“The health-care system is publicly funded and the public has a right to know and to hold us accountable too,” said Dr. Kirk Magee.
The site will share daily metrics, such as the number of emergency department visits and hospital occupancy percentages.
The province says other metrics, such as ambulance offload times and doctor recruitment numbers, will be updated regularly as data becomes available.
“One thing that it highlights is, something we already knew, is primary care is severely lacking and it's the foundation of a strong health-care system,” said Dr. Leisha Hawker with Doctors Nova Scotia.
While Doctors Nova Scotia applauds the province for its transparency, the association is also calling for a primary care task force.
“Where all stakeholders involved in primary action would come together to look at an evidence-based and shared vision for long-term primary care transformation in Nova Scotia,” said Hawker.
Progress on the province’s four-year plan to improve health care is also available on the website.
"Our healthcare system is complex, and pressure in one part of the system impacts all the others," said Thompson in a news release Friday.
"Change won't happen overnight. But by sharing this information now, we are holding ourselves accountable to make sure change happens and the system improves in the areas most important to Nova Scotians."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.