Health & Healthcare

Family doctors and primary care platforms

Here's what the 2024 Nova Scotia election parties are promising.
We don't have any PC policies on Family doctors and primary care.

Liberal

  • Build and expand 40 collaborative health care clinics across the province

    "We have a shortage of family doctors, and we need to do more to get Nova Scotians the care they need. The Municipality of Clare has a phenomenal primary care model that is fully staffed with healthcare professionals eager to work there. Healthcare professionals have also told us that they want to practice in such a collaborative setting. These clinics improve working conditions, reduce administrative burden, and keep doctors in Nova Scotia.

    We can emulate this model province-wide, put a halt to the skyrocketing family doctor waitlist, and attach patients to primary care providers.

    A Nova Scotia Liberal government will implement a collaborative care model province-wide by building and expanding 40 collaborative health care clinics across the province. We’ll work closely with existing clinics to make sure they’re running efficiently and are able to take on more patients.

    We will increase the annual incentive for physicians from $5,000 to $10,000 if they agree to join a collaborative care practice and increase their patient rosters. We will also introduce bonuses and incentives of up to $15,000 for allied health professionals who commit to working at a collaborative health clinic for a minimum of 5 years.

    Initially, we will focus on areas of the province that have the highest percentage of their residents currently waiting on a family doctor:

    ʘ New Glasgow - 26.1% of population on the registry (8,890 people)

    ʘ Yarmouth - 25.3% ... (6,284 people)

    ʘ Bridgewater - 22.9% ... (6,382 people)

    ʘ Bedford - 22.4% ... (10,395 people)

    ʘ Amherst - 20.9% ... (2,834 people)

    ʘ Sackville - 20.7% ... (10,082 people)

    ʘ Halifax Peninsula - 20.1% ... (13,852 people)

    ʘ Clayton Park - 20% ... (7,784 people)

    ʘ Middleton - 17.7% ... (3,930 people)

    ʘ Sydney - 16.9% ... (8,430 people)

    ʘ Dartmouth/Cole Harbour: 15.3% ... (20,237 people)"

    Better Deal for Nova Scotians, retrieved 2024-11-09

  • Expand the number of training positions for family doctors
  • Reduce administrative burdens for family physicians

NDP

  • Open 15 collaborative Family Doctor Clinics across the province within one year
  • Open 15 collaborative clinics per year for three more years
  • Move to automatic, location-based attachments to family doctors

    "Connecting you to a family doctor faster by moving to automatic, location-based attachments. In a primary care crisis, our priority is to connect patients and doctors as quickly as possible - this universal, automatic attachment model is being seen more and more around the globe as the best way to create primary care connections and the fastest way of reducing family doctor wait times." — Leadership You Can Believe In, retrieved 2024-11-16

Looking for the parties' positions on other topics?

See our full 2024 Nova Scotia election platform comparison