Patients waiting an average of 16 days for regular appointments<\/p>\n
Published May 04, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 4\u00a0days ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 6 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n Horizon and Vitalit\u00e9 patients are waiting an average of almost 16 days for a regular primary care appointment through facilities tied to their regional health networks, Brunswick News has learned.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the e-Edition, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalism and the next generation of journalists.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the e-Edition, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalism and the next generation of journalists.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to keep reading.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one account.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite journalists.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n That\u2019s about three times longer than the Holt Liberal government has said New Brunswickers should wait under its collaborative care clinic model.<\/p>\n None of Horizon\u2019s four regions are currently meeting the five-days-or-less target set by the Liberals as part of its primary care strategy, according to data provided to Brunswick News.<\/p>\n Patients are waiting an average of 15.7 days for a regular appointment through Horizon primary care sites, with slight differences between regions.<\/p>\n Average wait times are 17.3 days in the Fredericton\/Upper River Valley area, 16.1 days in the Saint John area, 14.9 days in the Moncton area and 11.1 days in the Miramichi area.<\/p>\n Vitalit\u00e9 saw an average wait time of 15.5 days for regular primary care appointments in the first quarter of 2026, although that\u2019s improved from 17.7 days in the last quarter of 2025, according to data provided to Brunswick News.<\/p>\n All these figures are based on what\u2019s called the \u201cthird next available\u201d appointment metric, which is \u201cthe average number of days between a patient requesting an appointment and the third next available opening in a provider\u2019s schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Horizon and Vitalit\u00e9 measure access to primary care through this metric, which is considered more reliable than measuring wait times for the next-available appointment.<\/p>\n About 27 per cent of Vitalit\u00e9\u2019s family health teams are currently meeting the Liberals\u2019 five-day target.<\/p>\n Brunswick News asked Horizon how many of its family health teams and community health centres \u2013 which both provide primary care \u2013 are meeting the five-day target. The newspaper was told it would take some time to gather the data, although Moncton\u2019s Mapleton family health team was given as an example of a team meeting the target.<\/p>\n \u201cHorizon is committed to ensuring timely access to primary care services in our communities, and we continue to work toward achieving our targets across all sites,\u201d Ashley Calvert, Horizon\u2019s interim vice-president of community, said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Liberals have committed to expanding primary care access by establishing and supporting at least 30 collaborative care clinics by 2028. At this point, they\u2019ve made 15 clinic announcements.<\/p>\n Morning Email Telegraph-Journal<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Last week, Premier Susan Holt told reporters the province is about one-third of the way through attaching 17,000 patients to the clinics announced to date.<\/p>\n As part of its plan, the Liberals have committed to improving timely access to primary care \u2013 not just getting each New Brunswicker matched with a health-care provider but ensuring they can see that provider within five days or less.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about the number of people attached, but if you are attached and can\u2019t be seen for three weeks, are you really attached? We hold our clinics to those numbers,\u201d Health Minister John Dornan said during a joint press conference with the premier last week.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can be seen within five days, most of the problems you present with are treatable, and so when we talk to the clinics, we want to make sure there\u2019s quantity and also quality and so they meet that by the five-day mark.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither Dornan nor Holt had appointment wait time data on hand last week when asked for a breakdown of whether or not each collaborative care clinic was meeting the five-day target.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n However, Holt noted that the \u201cthird next available\u201d appointment metric is being used by the province to measure primary access.<\/p>\n The third-next available (TNA) appointment is considered a more reliable measure of access than next-available appointment because it doesn\u2019t factor in last-minute cancellations and other anomalies that can distort a provider\u2019s true availability.<\/p>\n \u201cTNA is a best-practice standard used consistently by health-care organizations across Canada and provides the most reliable picture of provider availability,\u201d Calvert said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cHorizon\u2019s target is an average TNA of five days across all primary care sites,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition, Horizon\u2019s family health teams are expected to reserve capacity in their schedules for same-day appointments, ensuring patients with more immediate needs can be seen promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n Most Vitalit\u00e9 teams now offering minor emergency appointments<\/p>\n Most Vitalit\u00e9 family health teams are offering appointments for minor emergencies within 48 hours \u2013 a move that is helping take some pressure off emergency rooms across the regional health network.<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Twenty-four of Vitalit\u00e9\u2019s 32 family health teams now have the capacity to see patients on short notice to treat cases of the flu, minor cuts and other non-urgent conditions.<\/p>\n Plans are for all Vitalit\u00e9 family health teams \u2013 including the roughly four or five that still need to be created \u2013 to have the capacity to meet the 48-hour turnaround target, according to Patrick Parent, assistant CEO of Vitalit\u00e9 Health Network.<\/p>\n \u201cWe set ourselves a standard that fits with our culture, and our standard is to the best that we can possibly be and those are not targets you see in other provinces,\u201d Parent said in an interview about Vitalit\u00e9\u2019s minor-emergency target.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to establish a better-quality system, and regardless of targets that are asked of us, we will always raise the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n Vitalit\u00e9 started the transition to family health teams roughly two years earlier than Horizon. Largely serving francophone communities, Vitalit\u00e9 has a smaller catchment area than Horizon, the latter of which \u2013 in addition to creating new family health teams \u2013 is also in the process of transitioning dozens of community health centres to the collaborative care model.<\/p>\n Advertisement 7<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Horizon provided primary care wait time data to Brunswick News that included both its family health teams and community health centres.<\/p>\n In the 2025-26 fiscal year, Horizon secured funding for 10 family health teams to add staff, along with renovate and\/or find new clinical space, to take more patients off the primary care waitlist. These projects are in various stages of development.<\/p>\n Both Horizon and Vitalit\u00e9 health networks have committed to having all their patients attached to a primary care provider by 2029.<\/p>\n Progress reported on reducing non-urgent ER visits<\/p>\n More primary care access is expected to help reduce the volume of non-urgent visits to the province\u2019s overtaxed ERs \u2013 and Vitalit\u00e9 is already starting to see those results.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0430-lb-primary-care-1-use-this.jpg\")
The Liberals campaigned on a promise to improve timely access to primary care in New Brunswick. PEXELSArticle content<\/p>\n![\"Telegraph-Journal\"](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/21.1.1\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-tj.svg\"){kind=logo}
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Patrick Parent, assistant CEO of Vitalite Health Network, speaks with reporters alongside CEO Dr. France Desrosiers. BRUNSWICK NEWS ARCHIVES<\/p>\n