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There will be changes coming to the province’s virtual heath-care services, including more time for appointments and more “rigor” around the workload of nurse practitioners, once the new service launches later this month.
That’s according to Minister of Health, John Dornan, who announced Thursday that the new service replacing New Brunswick-based eVisitNB will be called Virtual Care NB.
“The new service is a structured appointment model, which will reduce wait times, improve continuity and ensure bilingual service,” he said.
Patients will receive scheduled appointments for care, which moves away from eVisit’s model of keeping patients in a virtual waiting room before they connect with a health-care provider.
“It’s not the wait that concerns people, it’s knowing when they will be seen,” he said. “And now we are providing that.”
WATCH | New model will ‘reduce frustration and improve flow,’ Dornan says:
Health minister shares details of new virtual care service
Health Minister John Dornan says the new model will feature scheduled, 20-minute appointments with a variety of health-care professionals.
The appointments will last 20 minutes by video or over the phone, which Dornan said will give nurse practitioners enough time to review a patient’s history, discuss their symptoms, then proceed with follow-ups like booking blood tests.
“New Brunswickers deserve more than a three-minute appointment.”
The service will be available 7 days a week, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for all New Brunswickers with a medicare card.
Nurse practitioners will still help with minor or common illnesses.
Foundever, the Luxembourg-based provider behind the new service, is responsible for making sure patients receive the follow-up care and referrals they need, Dornan said.
The minister said the province learned from its time using eVisitNB that not all patients need to see a nurse practitioner.
It’s why Virtual Care NB will also connect to other health-care providers like mental health and addiction support, pharmacists, doctors and emergency departments.
Dornan could not say whether medical information and visit history currently in eVisitNB will automatically be transferred to the new system — only that data will be stored safely in Canada.
Nurse practitioners will only see ‘one patient at a time’
During Thursday’s announcement, Dornan acknowledged he received a letter “from an unknown source” that claimed to be from a group of nurse practitioners working for the eVisitNB platform.
He said he found it worrisome because the letter said nurses were seeing multiple patients at once during their work with the company.
A major change, Dornan said, in the new service will be instilling “rigor” in the workload of staff taking the calls.
“The patient should never receive inattentive, multi-focused people that are trying to juggle four or five balls at the same time,” he said.
Virtual Care NB will not allow health-care providers to speak with more than one patient at a time, Dornan said. They will also have to resolve any issues or concerns with one patient before moving on to the next and Dornan said there will be consistent coverage for shifts.
The province’s previous provider, eVisitNB, will continue to offer virtual care until June 30. (eVisitNB)
He also said most of the other issues brought up in the letter were brought to Foundever’s attention.
In a statement, president of the Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick, Sharon Hamilton, said staff will continue to speak with the government while transitioning to the new service and bring up any challenges they experience while delivering patient care.
Dornan confirmed that Foundever has hired 27 nurse practitioners to date.
The province has a contract with the company for more than a year but Dornan said it does not want to “overly support one vendor.”
“Who knows what will happen down the road,” he said.
Virtual Care NB is set to replace eVisitNB on June 30. Dornan said the current provider will continue to deliver services until that time “to help ensure continuity of care.”