New Brunswick’s health plan implementation task force says the waitlist for a family doctor has grown to more than 63,000 people, despite promises by the provincial government to eliminate the list by the end of June.
When the province unveiled its health plan in November, roughly 40,000 people were on the Patient Connect list.
Task force co-chair Suzanne Johnston told reporters Wednesday morning the increase is connected to the number of residents adding their names to the list after moving to New Brunswick from other parts of Canada.
“It is a very serious challenge that we’re faced with,” she said.
“We do have a very comprehensive plan that is becoming finalized, and hopefully [is] able to bring forward some news about that Patient Connect list and that transformation.”
Johnston did not elaborate specifically on what the plan looks like, but noted the work will involve supporting those seeking care and onboarding patients to the proposed New Brunswick Primary Care Network, among other things.
She said the work ahead is going to take time, but in the meantime, she referred to the province’s other successful avenues in providing health services through eVisitNB and Tele-Care 811.
Johnston said her team has also been travelling across the region to see examples of collaborative community-based health care, which she said is just one part of the answer to New Brunswick’s health care crisis.
“Communities have been expressing a desire to do things differently,” said Johnston.
“For example, moving towards integrated community collaborative care, using team-based care models where different health professionals are working together to their full scope of practice, has been demonstrated across the country to produce effective outcomes for patients.”
Gérald Richard of the health plan implementation task force said an example that shows community-led health care projects are working includes the Nursing Homes Without Walls program.
Led by a researcher at l’Université de Moncton and supported by the Department of Social Development, it is being piloted in six communities.
“There has been a 63 per cent drop in emergency room visits for people in Port Elgin enrolled in the Nursing Homes Without Walls program,” said Richard in a news release.
“These are the success stories we need to share and learn from.”
Richard said the task force will launch a dashboard this week, similar to the one previously used for COVID-19 numbers, to publicly share details on the work being done and certain targets to see if they are moving in the right direction to get residents off the waitlist.
