Nova Scotia doctors frustrated they have no say in health-care cuts and changes

Halifax - A group of eight doctors are demanding a greater say in how the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) is managed, the Chronicle Herald reported.The group penned an opinion piece in the paper on July 24 arguing that the shortage of health-care providers, as well as the overcrowding in hospitals and long-term care facilities (all of which has been well documented) are "neither presented nor accounted for" when the province-wide health authority makes decisions.The doctors say that the NSHA's 13 board members—the majority of whom are lawyers, accountants and business people—were chosen to get health care costs under control."At the NSHA Annual General Meeting on July 6, 2017, it was reported that cost control had been achieved," the doctors wrote. "(But) Nova Scotia is at a crossroads where health care cost control and service provision are colliding."One of the authors on the letter, Dr. Robert Martel, told the Chronicle Herald that "no one from the health authority has contacted us even to have a discussion."That's particularly worrying since as, he and his colleagues point out, there is just one doctor among the 26 people who make up the NSHA board and executive."The NSHA, manages a budget of $2 billion, serves 950,000 people, and has 23,000 employees," the physicians wrote. Yet the vast quantities of data collected from this huge system is, as they said, "unlinked, minimally analyzed, poorly interpreted and misunderstood.""There is no health human resources plan, emergency and longterm care are strained and primary care is in disarray."When contacted by the Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia Health Minister Randy Delorey said he was ready to meet with doctors."I appreciate receiving these recommendations," he said of the opinion piece the doctors wrote, "and will consider them as we continue our work to improve Nova Scotia’s health-care system."

Nova Scotia doctors frustrated they have no say in health-care cuts and changes

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