People waiting for a family doctor in Nova Scotia could face years without finding one

Paul Morris is looking forward to the day he has a primary care provider as he approaches three years on the provincial registry for people who need a family doctor.

In June 2021, Morris and his wife moved to Concession, N.S., from Ontario for retirement.

At the time, 6.8 per cent of the population in Digby, Clare and Weymouth were on the registry. Now, the couple is among 20 per cent of the local population who say they need a family practice, according to Nova Scotia Health data.

“We did several years of research before we moved here, so … we were well aware of the health-care situation,” Morris said. “Mr. Houston said he was going to fix this. We’re waiting.”

The number of people on the need a family practice registry has been ballooning, more than doubling since 2021. Nova Scotia Health reported 153,373 people were waiting as of Feb 1. About 10 per cent of those people have been on the list for more than three years, the health authority said. And it’s not clear how long it takes to get off the list.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson said challenges vary in each community but population growth and practices shutting down are key parts of the problem.

Morris said he looks forward to a health centre expansion in the Municipality of Clare which is likely to take him off the list.

The Clare Health Centre expansion is scheduled to open in summer 2024 as a result of a partnership between the facility, municipality and province. Once complete, the health centre will have 12 physicians, according to a statement from the Municipality of Clare.

“All the new positions that are being created as a result of the expansion have already been filled,” said Municipality of Clare spokesperson Anique Dugas. “In turn, this means that each resident of the Municipality of Clare will have access to a primary care provider in the coming months.”

Patients on the list are put in priority order based on their location and other factors like pre-existing health conditions.

“There are some people with very time-sensitive issues that require a physician or nurse practitioner,” Thompson said. “We really do need to look at it from a community cluster perspective in order to support attachment and access [to a doctor].”

Thompson said the province is focused on initiatives like increasing the workforce through education as well as credential recognition, offering incentives to doctors who take on additional patients and working with municipalities on recruitment.

“We have an innovation hotline,” Thompson said. “There were a number of physicians that felt they needed some support and some stabilization in their clinic. And so we were able to do that through the hotline which is still available to physicians and it actually kept 16,000 people off the list as a result of that.”

Ottawa’s efforts won’t solve family doctor shortage, experts say

The federal government is striking deals with provinces and pledging billions of dollars to help solve Canada’s family doctor shortage, but experts say it’s not enough to address the situation for millions of patients without a primary physician.

Set to get worse

Almost 35 per cent of people on the registry report being new to the area, about a quarter have had their family practice moved or closed and 20 per cent say their provider has retired.

Dr. Leisha Hawker, past president of Doctors Nova Scotia, said there are more impending retirements with about a quarter of doctors over age 60.

“That’s actually going to be a really big problem, even worse than now potentially, if we don’t do some serious recruitment and retention efforts to be able to do some succession planning for that,” she said.

Hawker said it is important for anyone who is in need of a doctor to sign up.

Like an iceberg

“It helps the system plan. And so we really need to know just how big of an iceberg it is,” she said. “Every Nova Scotian should have access to a family doctor because that’s the person that knows you.”

In addition to walk-in, mobile, urgent care and pharmacy clinics, residents on the registry can access care for free through VirtualCareNS.

Morris, who is set to turn 69 years old, said he is able to access same day appointments at the Clare Health Centre while he waits to be attached to a primary care provider. He hopes other municipalities and clinics notice what is happening there.

“I think what we’ve got here is a model for the province,” Morris said.