{"id":59635,"date":"2025-10-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=59635"},"modified":"2025-10-24T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:00:00","slug":"column-doctor-waitlist-drop-shows-healthcare-plan-is-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=59635","title":{"rendered":"Column: Doctor waitlist drop shows healthcare plan is working"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>The following is the monthly column submitted by Premier Tim Houston&#8217;s office:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Government\u2019s efforts to connect more Nova Scotians with the care they need are working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nova Scotia is marking a significant milestone for our healthcare system. We&#8217;ve achieved another substantial reduction in the number of people on the Need a Family Practice Registry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 6,540 Nova Scotians were attached to a family doctor over the last month, bringing the number down to 77,526, which is 7.3 per cent of our population. This is by far the lowest in the country.<br>And we are on the right path. This time last year, that number was 145,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is quite a drop, and it is because the investments and initiatives we\u2019ve been making are working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>a new program to recognize the credentials of more internationally trained doctors,<br>faster<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>60 new and strengthened clinics to connect Nova Scotians to primary care along with<br>46 primary care clinics at pharmacies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the award-winning Physician Assessment Centre of Excellence (PACE)<br>This is on top of funding to establish a new nursing program at Acadia University and<br>more nurse training at universities and the Nova Scotia Community College across the<br>province.<br>The impact of these investments is undeniable. Investments in health, mental health<br>and seniors grew from $5.1 billion in 2021-22 to $8.3 billion this year. These<br>investments are producing results for Nova Scotians.<br>According to the latest Action for Health data:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the number of new doctors coming to the province is up 80 per cent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>nurse practitioners are up 390 per cent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>registered nurses are up 260 per cent<br>The job is not done, but the plan is working. More Nova Scotians are accessing care<br>and we are making progress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When our government began our journey to fix healthcare, we were clear that it would take time, and that it would cost money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has. But you are worth it. I know that we made the right decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We won\u2019t go back to the days when governments balanced budgets by cutting healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, we will continue to strategically invest in our future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cape Breton Medical Campus has begun training its first class of 30 future physicians, which will help future-proof our healthcare system from crumbling into another deep healthcare crisis like the one we inherited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we made a promise to fix healthcare, we meant it. While there is still work to be done, I\u2019m incredibly proud of the progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tim Houston<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Premier of Nova Scotia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"alignnormal\">[metaslider id=&#8221;56511&#8243;]<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"alignnormal\">[metaslider id=&#8221;56526&#8243;]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following is the monthly column submitted by Premier Tim Houston&#8217;s office: Government\u2019s efforts to connect more Nova Scotians with the care they need are working. Nova Scotia is marking a significant milestone for our healthcare system. We&#8217;ve achieved another substantial reduction in the number of people on the Need a Family Practice Registry. More [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111,997,957],"tags":[4732,1715,48,4136,1077,2517],"class_list":["post-59635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-column","category-columns","category-news","tag-doctor-waitlist","tag-healthcare","tag-n-s","tag-need-a-family-practice-registry","tag-nova-scotia","tag-premier-tim-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}