HALIFAX: Because of the many problems in the system, the Minister of Health and Wellness said it will take money and time to fix health care.
“Money is not really an issue, in terms of the resources,” Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson told The Reporter. “We often hear, ‘there’s no money for this, there’s no money for that,’ but as a government, we’re very committed to investing where and when we can. It doesn’t mean there’s a blank cheque but it means that we know that health care has a lot of problems; it’s going to take money, and it’s going to take time.”
During the regular monthly meeting of Inverness Municipal Council in Port Hood on Oct. 4, District 4 Councillor John MacLennan said visitors to the emergency department at Inverness Consolidated Memorial Hospital “are coming from all parts of Cape Breton,” and as far away as Truro.
After MacLennan noted that staff and taxpayers are worried about what’s going to happen if they have to close the emergency department, District 5 Councillor Lynn Chisholm said these same concerns are “coming from everywhere.”
Commenting that “we’re all worried, absolutely,” Warden Bonny MacIsaac recommended that the issue be discussed further, and council agreed to a suggestion from CAO Keith MacDonald to have a representative from the department of health attend a future council meeting.
The health minister said one priority is to address primary care needs in the community. She said this will be helped by the creation of an urgent treatment centre at the Victoria County Memorial Hospital in Baddeck and the reopening of the emergency department at the Glace Bay Hospital two days a week.
“We know that there’s a lot of pressure on our emergency rooms across the province, and certainly we have heard some anecdotes that there is some more travel throughout Cape Breton,” Thompson said. “We want to protect our emergency rooms because when we do have emergencies, we want to be able to go there. It’s really around providing opportunities for people who have low acuity issues that still need to be seen but can be seen in a different environment.”
To increase training opportunities, the province has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Michener Institute and is working with the Canadian Resident Matching Service, the Antigonish MLA said, noting the province is looking at different models surrounding the duties of pharmacists.
“There’s been a variety of different things that have been happening in order to make sure that people have access to the right care, at the right time, in the right place,” she stated. “I can assure you, we are all in; we are working really hard to find some solutions, and not all solutions will look the same in every community.”
Then in a press release issued Oct. 12, Nova Scotia Health said it was experiencing high patient volumes last week at hospitals in all zones.
For those who don’t have a primary care provider, whether a physician or a nurse practitioner, Thompson said it is important they enter their names on the Need a Family Practice Registry so they can access virtual care.
“Virtual care doesn’t always mean a video link, because I know people are concerned, particularly in rural Nova Scotia, about their ability to access the internet, but virtual can also mean the phone, and most of the virtual visits that happen with primary care providers, (General Practitioners), and such often they will call us, if they have a family practice, by phone,” she explained. “If the primary care provider that you speak with feels that you need to be seen, they can actually help you be seen in a clinic.”
Thompson will join Deputy Minister Jeannine Lagassé and Nova Scotia Health CEO Karen Oldfield for a series of community conversations across the province, starting on Oct. 19.
The Antigonish session will take place on Oct. 27 from 7 to 9 p.m., then on Dec. 2, the consultations will visit Inverness from 2 to 4 p.m. and Port Hawkesbury from 7 to 9 p.m., the province said.
“I’m heading to the Strait in early December to talk to the community about some of the initiatives that are happening because it is really hard sometimes to get messages out about what is happening,” said Thompson. “In the Strait, we have some challenges around recruiting nurses and physicians. We have to look at different ways to deliver care. We know that it’s stressful and it’s top of mind for us, and for the community, so we have to continue to try different things.”
Thompson said improving the system so it’s reliable and responsive will take time. She said physician training is a long-term goal, more specifically a 10-year investment, in the medium term are issues like internationally educated staff, and a good example of a short term goal is hiring 180 transport drivers which has reduced ambulance transfers.
“It’s going to take some time,” she said. “These things kind of all add up; it’s not one thing, but over time, each of these things build momentum and capacity for us to do that.”
Sometimes recruiting a physician can solve a number of needs in one community, but Thompson said another community might need a “more complex approach.”
The health minister said adopting new ways of doing things can drive better care for patients and help doctors put down roots in communities.
One example of innovation in health care is the mobile primary care unit which was put on the road in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality after Hurricane Fiona, Thompson noted.
“People were able to access care outside of the usual environment, and folks were being seen there,” noted Thompson. “People were able to come with urgent treatment concerns and then the system was navigated for them.”
Also on Oct. 12, the province announced in a press release a $6.3-million investment over the next four years to help new graduates and new doctors to the province establish practices, starting at Dalhousie family medicine clinics.
According to the province, graduates and new doctors will gain experience working alongside other care providers, including licensed practical nurses, family practice nurses, social workers, pharmacists, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists, which they claim is the preferred work environment of many new doctors.
After this, the province said doctors will be supported in transitioning to their own practice and will be expected to maintain a roster of patients, and as a result, more Nova Scotians will be connected to a primary care provider and recent graduates of Dalhousie family medicine will gain valuable hands-on experience.
The new funding will build on the success of a partnership between Dalhousie family medicine clinics and Nova Scotia Health, which has helped hundreds of people without a family doctor receive faster care, the province noted.
“Combining new and improved clinical practice and learning environments in primary health care has the potential to promote the recruitment of learners and retention of our clinical teachers,” Dr. Katherine Stringer, Department Head, Dalhousie family medicine added.