QP Women's Healthcare: Government Promises
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Speaker, for decades, women's health has been treated as an afterthought not as a priority. This government made big campaign promises to support women's health care, but a year later, Nova Scotians are still waiting. Since this government got elected, women have seen precious little progress. The average wait time for routine care at the IWK Health Centre is two and a half to three years, and there is a 15,000-plus-person waiting list. Nova Scotia has the second-lowest percentage of women being screened for cervical cancer and breast cancer, and Nova Scotia's mortality rate for these cancers is above the national levels. Experts agree that improved screening can lead to earlier detection and better outcomes.
My question to the minister is: When will women's health be a priority?
HON. MICHELLE THOMPSON » : Our commitment to women's health didn't start a year ago. It started when we formed government in 2021. There have been a number of investments that we've made. We're working with operators, in particular, to understand the pressures in the system and how best we can serve women.
I'll just give some examples. There are now two specialty clinics for endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain and the Maritime Centre for Pelvic Floor Health. We have seen an increase of around 40 percent of people being able to access appointments at these centres as a result of operational excellence programs that are happening at the IWK Health Centre. There have been 13 full-time employees recruited to the ambulatory gynecological services. We also have increased gynecological services across the province.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Speaker, this doesn't address the challenges I raised in my question. This government's record on women's health speaks for itself. Women and gender-diverse people in this province have over a nine-month wait for a mammogram; almost no access to advanced breast screening if you're high-risk; no take-home tests for cervical cancer like there are for prostate cancer; no menopause centre for excellence that we've seen; no free birth control, which women in Manitoba, P.E.I., Yukon, and British Columbia currently have and which is used for medication by many; and no access to surgical abortion services in many regional hospitals.
My question is: When will this government start listening not just to the clinicians but to women and act to improve their health care?
MICHELLE THOMPSON « » : We do our very best to listen not only to clinicians but to women across this province. In fact, many of the clinicians who we listen to are women as we work in these spaces.
Recently, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer has looked at modelling for breast-density screening. Nova Scotia was one of the five provinces that was able to participate deeply because of the information that they already have in that modelling. Currently, the effectiveness of supplemental screening is still uncertain, but we're working with experts to understand and make sure that, if evidence changes, we're at the forefront of that.
Nova Scotia is one of the few provinces that has a high-risk screening program. We are working across the lifespan in order to support girls and women in accessing health care.
CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Other provinces have this screening available, and the high-risk program is almost impossible to access. Advocates and frontline organizations rallied outside today to ask this government to take action, and their message was simple: Women deserve systems that don't wait for a crisis to take them seriously. We deserve cancer screening tools that are available in other parts of this country. We deserve free contraception. We deserve real investments in research that will help keep us healthy. Prevention, screening, early detection: they matter. Our health should not be in crisis before it's taken seriously.
Speaker, my question to the government, to the Premier, and to the minister is: When can women and gender-diverse people in this province expect this government to finally take action?
MICHELLE THOMPSON « » : Women who are high-risk do have access to high-risk MRI screening if they meet the criteria. We're very proud of the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program. Dr. Iles leads that program. I meet with her regularly. She is a thought leader and a clinical leader across this country.
There is cutting-edge research that is happening around ovarian cancer at Dalhousie University, and I had an opportunity to tour the lab just recently.
There are a number of things that are happening across women's health care, and there are a number of dedicated clinicians. We have invested a number of dollars across the system not only in women's health but in gender-diverse care, as well. We've increased access to gender-affirming care, and there are a number of changes that have happened at the policy and frontline levels.