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
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.