Nova Scotia Premier’s promise to ‘fix health care’ under scrutiny during election campaign – Halifax
Tim Houston was finishing his election victory speech on August 18, 2021, when Nova Scotia’s premier-designate reiterated a commitment he had made several times during the campaign.
“Over the next four years and beyond…I promise you this: I will give you everything I have to improve health care,” he said, reaffirming the emphasis of progressives— Conservatives on election campaigns. “We can put Nova Scotia on the path to sustainability and repair our health care system. »
Three years later, Houston called an election for November 26, knowing that the vote could be a referendum on whether or not it kept that lofty promise.
Government data shows the Conservatives made some progress in their first term, but fell far short of fixing a system plagued by shortages of doctors and nurses and long wait times for health services. ambulance and emergency.
The provincial Need A Family Practice registry – a key health care indicator – was updated earlier this month for the first time since June, when it reached a record 160,234 people without a doctor family or nurse practitioner.
Although the latest figures indicate a marked improvement, with 145,114 people now on the register, this figure is much higher than in spring 2021, when there were half as many people on the list. And the latest numbers show 16.2 per cent of Nova Scotians were still looking for a primary care provider, well above the government’s target of five per cent and the highest rate high since fiscal year 2021-2022.
Jennifer Benoit, provincial coordinator for the Nova Scotia Health Coalition, a non-profit organization, said significant gaps remain in the system, including wait times and emergency room closures.
“I think we are still in a health crisis,” Benoit said in an interview. “We need to focus on solving these problems… Since Mr. Houston took office, we have seen people die in emergency rooms waiting for care.
Between April 2022 and March 31, 2023, unplanned emergency room closures reached 41,923 hours, an increase of 32% compared to the previous year, according to a government report released last December. Most of these closures were due to staff shortages.
Meanwhile, just 56 percent of ambulance response times met the government’s benchmark this year, compared to 71 percent in summer 2021. And 66 percent of emergency room waiting times met the government’s benchmark. government this year, up slightly from 65 percent. percent in summer 2021, but far from the province’s 90 percent target.
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While it is true that the number of physicians in the province continues to grow, the rate of growth has been outpaced by the province’s population explosion and continued retirements and transfers of physicians. As a result, the number of doctors per 100,000 Nova Scotians fell from 124 in 2021 to 121 this year – again below the government’s target of 135 doctors per 100,000 people.
When it comes to registered nurses, Houston can boast a three-year recruiting drive that went from 196 net new nurses hired in 2021 to 692 hired this year. Yet the vacancy rate for registered nurse jobs remains at 15.4 percent, more than double the government’s target of seven percent.
Meanwhile, Liberals led by Zach Churchill ran online ads with the slogan: “Tim Houston: All the Promises.” No progress.
And on Monday, the first full day of the campaign, New Democrats held a news conference to call attention to Houston’s “failure to solve the health care crisis.”
“Instead of fixing health care…Tim Houston is relying on quick fixes and investing millions of public dollars in apps, tech deals and shady contracts,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said in a statement .
Chender highlighted the case of Hogan Court, a half-finished hotel that Houston’s government planned to turn into a health care facility. Earlier this year, the province’s auditor general said the government failed to do due diligence when it invested about $46 million to buy and renovate the property.
“Meanwhile, Nova Scotians are still grappling with a patchwork of health care options that are difficult to navigate,” Chender said.
Anticipating this kind of criticism, the Conservative government spent $158,000 to distribute 480,000 brochures across the province earlier this month outlining its latest health care initiatives, including the province’s new YourHealthNS app and ActionForHealth.ca website.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last three years,” Houston says in the publication. “But we can and will do more to provide Nova Scotians with the best health care possible. »
The publication boasts that the province has hired 300 doctors and specialists, as well as 2,000 nurses.
The government brochure also highlights initiatives to establish a medical school in Cape Breton; increase training opportunities for nurses; provide free courses for paramedics; add more long-term care rooms; expand a major hospital in Halifax; and accelerated accreditation for out-of-province doctors.
On the first day of the last election campaign, Houston revealed the main reason he was running for another term, but it wasn’t health.
Instead, he said he wants to implement a plan to improve affordability and housing. Additionally, he said he wants to enlist the support of Nova Scotians in his ongoing battles with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Nova Scotia needs a government with a new mandate to defend our province,” he said. “Faced with a political crisis… Prime Minister Trudeau made the decision to try to save seats in Ontario and Quebec at the expense of countries like Nova Scotia. »
Ten minutes into his 17-minute speech, the prime minister turned his attention to health care and confirmed that the system is far from fixed.
“We know there is work to do, but we have a track record to build on,” he said before citing the accomplishments listed in the recent brochure. “Nova Scotia finally has a plan that works. »
Benoit, whose advocacy group is primarily supported by public sector unions, said Houston’s government deserves credit for many of the investments made in health care.
“It’s a step forward,” she said. “But we haven’t seen the silver bullet he promised during his last election campaign.”
