Family doctor shortage fast becoming an election issue in New Brunswick

The number of New Brunswickers without a family doctor or nurse practitioner has shot up to 160,000 people or 20% of the province’s population, says the Liberal health critic.But the Progressive Conservative health minister says the figure is rubbish, considering tens of thousands of New Brunswickers have signed up for NB Health Link, a service that provides clinics with a rotating staff of doctors at 11 locations throughout the province who see orphaned patients.Liberal health critic Rob McKee raised the alarming figure in question period Wednesday, only five months before the next provincial election must be held. “We need a government that is actually going to address this issue,” McKee said. “The Higgs government is not up to the task. Why should we trust it with another mandate? It has had six years, yet all we are seeing is the number ballooning to 160,000.” Only last year, the independent New Brunswick Health Council reported that 85% of the population had a primary care provider, a figure that was markedly worse than its previous survey in 2020 that showed 90% had a family doc or nurse practitioner .Through a Liberal handler, McKee told Brunswick News after question period that he obtained the latest figure from officials with NB Health Link, who cited an upcoming health council survey. The survey is considered the gold standard because it typically includes a huge sample size, up to 5,000 people from all regions. Based on Statistics Canada’s latest quarterly population estimate, New Brunswick has 846,000 people. If the figure of 160,000 is correct, 19% of New Brunswickers would be without a family doctor or nurse practitioner. Health Minister Bruce Fitch said McKee’s figures were obscuring the fact that the Tory government had set up a special service to help orphaned patients.“That’s a program that has been absent in other provinces across the federation,” Fitch told members of the house. “It is a made-in-New Brunswick solution that other provinces are looking at. The public needs to fully understand what the opposition is going to do. Is it going to shut down NB Health Link?” Fitch said NB Health Link had onboarded 58,000 people who otherwise would not have access to primary care. McKee scoffed, replying that “NB Health Link is a permanent solution to temporary care. That’s what has been put in place. The government isn’t putting in the effort required to get people into permanent medical homes.”The debate over healthcare dominated question period, with the Liberals focusing almost their entire attack on what they consider one of the Progressive Conservatives’ biggest shortcomings.But Fitch argued the doctor shortage was affecting Canada as a whole, not just New Brunswick. “When I look at the number of people in other jurisdictions without a family doctor, I see that British Columbia has about one million people, Alberta has about 600,000 people, and Ontario has 2.2 million people without one. These are the headlines, and you can read the stories. Unfortunately, for our friends in Nova Scotia, the list has now reached 152,000 residents.”Premier Blaine Higgs jumped into the fray, pointing out that his Tory government had, in partnership with the private firm Vero-Source Solutions, developed the MyHealthNB app that allows New Brunswickers to access care from their smartphone or computer. “Now, over 100 000 people—maybe 150 000—are utilizing it because they can get a result on a lab test immediately, faster than doctors in many cases,” Higgs said.“They can now actually book X-rays and blood tests.” He added that “if you can’t get the service here in Fredericton, maybe you can get it in Bathurst, or maybe you can get it in Miramichi. It is about utilizing our entire network.” Liberal Opposition Leader Susan Holt said the Tory government had done a wretched job recruiting more healthcare professionals who could help shorten medical wait times. She said the premier was speaking about a private company without talking to the people who deliver healthcare. “That’s the problem with this government’s approach. It continues to ignore the nurses, the nurse practitioners, the paramedics, the physiotherapists, and the family doctors who want to be a part of the solution.”Higgs countered that the Liberals were promoting old ideas that didn’t work. He said his government was trying to come up with innovative, practical solutions that would allow more people to access care, regardless of where they live. “They just want better healthcare. We can deliver it, but not with the same old, same old.”

Family doctor shortage fast becoming an election issue in New Brunswick

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