The following is the column submitted by Premier Tim Houston’s office
It’s been three years since our government was elected on a promise to fix healthcare. That is a commitment that we have not wavered on – even for one day
We knew fixing healthcare wouldn’t be easy but we are facing the challenge head on. My motto quickly became more, faster.
I’m excited to share some of the progress we’ve made.
We knew coming in we needed more doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals of all types. We were watching our population grow while recruitment lagged and retention wasn’t a focus of past governments.
I’m proud that since September 2022 we have 226 more physicians – 65 family doctors and 161 specialists – working in the province. This is the net number, meaning this is over and above replacing those who have retired or left.
On top of that, we have 2,225 more registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners in the system. Since January 2024, 65 paramedics and 11 emergency medical responders have joined our ranks and many more are in training.
We also need to keep our current hardworking and dedicated professionals. That’s why we negotiated new agreements with higher pay for doctors, nurses and paramedics, as well as making retention a key priority in our Action for Health plan.
And we’re seeing the benefit. Access to care is increasing across the province. Through pharmacy primary care clinics, VirtualCareNS, mobile primary care clinics, urgent treatment centres and more, over 840,000 appointments were added to the system in the last year. That’s 70,000 more appointments every month available to any Nova Scotian in need.
We put healthcare in the palm of your hand with YourHealthNS. The app helps Nova Scotians find the nearest health services, and book blood work, X-ray and other appointments. And since this summer, any Nova Scotian who wants to can access their own health records.
Nova Scotia is also leading the country in healthcare innovation. From a first-in-the-world radiotherapy system to pinpoint and treat tumors more precisely than ever before – which means quicker recovery times and better outcomes – to robot-assisted spinal, hip and knee surgeries, this technology is offering patients better care, faster and Nova Scotia is at the forefront.
Our hybrid operating room – the first in Atlantic Canada – is where patients having cardiac or vascular surgeries can get diagnostic tests right in the room.
And we’ve reduced our surgery wait times by 20 per cent. There are now an additional 2,000 surgeries being performed every year.
There is so much more! I invite Nova Scotians to sign up for our Action for Health newsletter at https://actionforhealth.novascotia.ca/news to get updates every month.
We’ve made a lot of progress in the last three years. But we can – and will – do even more to get Nova Scotians the best possible healthcare.
Tim Houston
Premier of Nova Scotia
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