'That’s the biggest jump I’ve seen': Maritime provinces see doctor wait lists grow
Bernadette Landry recently lost her family doctor, someone she had been seeing for years.
So, she says it doesn’t surprise her to hear the wait list for a primary care practitioner has grown by the thousands so far this year.
New Brunswick’s Department of Health says the list sits at about 74,000 people.
“You have to wonder sometimes, why doctors decide to leave?” she said. "Their working conditions are not always ideal, that is for sure. It's like all health-care workers, they're all being stretched out to the limit.”
As chair of the New Brunswick Health Coalition, she says many seniors — like her — are concerned about the move to e-visits, stressing it’s not the same as expressing health concerns in person, and building trust with a single practitioner.
In a statement Monday, the department said it has recruited nine family physicians, but in the same time frame, lost 10. They’re promising more emphasis on recruitment incentives, aiming to be more competitive with other provinces and countries.
It’s also working on rolling out its new New Brunswick Health Link, which promises to remove people from the waitlist and connect them with a practitioner when they need one until a permanent replacement is found.
Work is underway on the program, which is currently focused on the Moncton region.
The New Brunswick Medical Society called the growing list “disheartening.”
“While efforts are underway to recruit new physicians to the province, we also need to work harder to ensure current New Brunswick physicians are being supported and appreciated in order to strengthen retention,” said president Dr. Mark MacMillan in a statement.
“In the meantime, we are hopeful that the New Brunswick Health Link will help facilitate access to care for those patients without a family physician and we look forward to the results of its initial rollout in the Moncton area.”
Nova Scotia isn’t immune.
According to the Nova Scotia Health Authority, 105,187 Nova Scotians are on the Need a Family Practice Registry as of Aug. 1 — up from 100,592 on July 1.
It’s an increase of 30,000 people in less than a year.
“That's the biggest jump I’ve seen in a year since I’ve been elected for 12 years,” said Nova Scotia Liberal Leader Zach Churchill.
The top reasons as to why range from population growth, to doctors leaving or retiring.
The August report states that 37.6 per cent of people said they wanted to be added to the registry because they were new to an area, and 24.7 per cent reported their provider had moved or closed their practice.
“There's another half of those folks who are leaving the profession for other reasons and a big thing we're hearing is, they're exhausted. They're dealing with wave after wave of COVID-19 and it's putting so much pressure on them and their colleagues that it's tapping people out,” Churchill said.
Prince Edward Island’s wait list sits at 25,261, as of Aug. 8. Of those, 383 have a primary care provider but are requesting a new one.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.