NS Budget Offers No Investment in Access to Primary Healthcare - QP
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, with 137,000 people on the wait-list for a family doctor, the government today tabled a budget with a tiny drop dedicated to expanding access to consistent primary care.
Right now, there are thousands of people trying to get prescriptions refilled, trying and failing to get their kids into a walk-in clinic, and waiting and waiting and waiting for some way that they can be assured that they will come off this list and be attached to consistent care.
Does the Premier really think this is good enough?
THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, we tabled a budget today that invests $6.5 billion in health care. For somebody to have the audacity to refer to that as a drop in the bucket might be referred to as negative.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : I will channel the optimism of the 137,000 people waiting for primary care when I ask about the fraction - the infinitesimal fraction - of that $6.5 billion that will have an upstream impact on people waiting to be attached to care.
Anyone who knows someone with a cancer diagnosis, with a chronic illness, with a complicated pregnancy, or with controlled medication that needs to be refilled or titrated knows that it is crucial to be able to access a family health provider or team of providers. These are the folks who can't get the help they need virtually or at a walk-in or in a pharmacy. These are the people who leave the ER every day without being seen.
Mr. Speaker, why has the Premier introduced a budget with no significant plan for expansion of family health teams across this province?
THE PREMIER « » : I just disagree with the member, Mr. Speaker.
What I would say to those Nova Scotians who are on the list is that we want to attach them to a health home, to primary care, for sure. But I would remind them that just because they're on the list doesn't mean that they don't have access to care. There will be those who try to push that narrative, but there is access to care.
One hundred per cent of the people on that list have access to virtual care, and 57,000 Nova Scotians have actually signed up for virtual care. Almost 97,000 people on that list have access to a primary care clinic where they can seek medical treatment, in person or virtually.
What I would leave the member with is this: When we came in, Mr. Speaker, it was just a list of names. We're now working hard to prioritize that list to make sure that those who need the most urgent care are treated urgently. They're not just a name on a list like what was left to us by the prior government.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : What we are trying to encourage is to avoid the need for that urgent care in the first place, which means that people need to be attached to primary care, Mr. Speaker. This is why British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and even the Alberta NDP, who are likely to form government, have all begun to roll out and propose serious investments and incentives in primary health care so that people in those provinces can have a family health home.
Oh, I'm sorry. Are you sad about the Conservatives losing? Meanwhile, we have a government that is not even trying to reduce the ballooning number of people on the Need a Family Practice Registry. Yet there are a lot of dollars in the budget for health care, but I would like to remind the Premier that there's no budget line for people who don't have access to health care.
Mr. Speaker, how much longer are people in this province going to have to wait for consistent access to primary care?
THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, the health leadership team is incredible. I know that the member referred to the NSHA as awful people, but the health leadership team is working very hard under the minister's leadership, working extremely hard.
What I would say is, buried in the barrage of negativity was one of the most positive sprouts of optimism I've ever seen when she referred to the Alberta elections. Very positive; very unlikely, though, Mr. Speaker.