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As the number of people waiting to be matched with a primary care provider continues to decrease, Nova Scotia’s health minister cannot say when the public will again get access to more details about that list.
In June 2024, Michelle Thompson’s government suspended detailed monthly data updates that included information about where people on the list live and the reasons why they were either added to or removed from the list.
Since then, the only detail provided is the total number of people looking for a doctor or nurse practitioner.
At the time, Thompson and Premier Tim Houston questioned the accuracy of the list and said officials with Nova Scotia Health needed time to contact every person on it; at that point the registry stood at about 160,000 people. Thompson also said the list in its state did not provide enough relevant details.
But in the same week the health authority announced the registry is now down to 66,768 people, Thompson couldn’t provide details about when a greater amount of information would again be shared with the public.
“It still is very much a manual process and so pulling those numbers is not easy,” she told reporters.
“It’s a very work-intensive process.”
Along with contacting everyone on the registry to ensure they still need to be on it, Thompson said people are also subject to a questionnaire to get a sense of their needs.
At some point, she said, the recordkeeping process will become digital and it would become easier to provide more data, but the minister could not say when.
‘Part of being open’
In opposition, the PCs used the size of the list as a regular attack point to argue that the health-care system was in crisis under the then-Liberal government. Since coming to power, they’ve questioned its usefulness.
NDP finance critic Lisa Lachance said people want to know what’s happening in the health-care system, including those still trying to get matched with a primary care provider.
The information that gives a greater picture about the registry should be public, Lachance told reporters.
“This is part of being open with Nova Scotians, to show what’s happening in communities and to better understand — maybe — what works or what doesn’t work.”
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