Cape Breton doctors concerned about health region’s pain services

A Cape Breton doctor is concerned about the future of pain care in eastern parts of Nova Scotia, as he laments the lack of resources provided by the provincial health authority to treat patients’ symptoms.

Dr. Robert McNeil is a specialist who works four days a week at the Sydney Pain Clinic, located inside the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.

The clinic handles approximately 4,000 patient visits per year and serves the island’s four counties, as well as Antigonish, Pictou and Guysborough.

McNeil said a second pain clinic in North Sydney recently reduced some services after one of its doctors left the area, but it continued to provide pain-killing injections to existing patients.

Some patients in North Sydney who require non-infusion therapy are now being transferred to the Sydney clinic for assessment and continuing care or support with their medication.

“I’m not sure about the exact number of those patients,” said McNeil, medical director of chronic pain services in Nova Scotia Health’s eastern region.

“I know they’re getting to the end of a very long waiting list.”

long waiting lists for care

The waiting list for people wishing to access McNeil’s services as a pain specialist is nearly three years long.

McNeil said the Sydney clinic employs three pain specialists and two family physicians, including himself, although he plans to retire soon. He would like at least one more doctor to be appointed to the clinic and also to increase physiotherapy and psychology services and provide other support such as a nurse practitioner.

“Pain is now the most common complaint at the doctor’s office, whether it’s the emergency room or the doctor’s office,” McNeil said. “So I think allocating resources to reflect that will help us provide better care.”

Nova Scotia Health confirmed that a pain doctor overseeing a North Sydney clinic left the region in late August, but did not say how many patients were affected.

Cathy Lynn Hawley, director of perioperative and pain services for Nova Scotia Health’s eastern region, said patient load and services are being reviewed.

Hawley said recruitment was ongoing for additional pain specialists at the Sydney clinic, while a physiotherapist and an occupational therapist had been hired and were due to start work in the new year.

“The Sydney clinic is working through those consultations and referrals, so we don’t have a clear picture of the number of patients to date, but we are continuing to work with the clinics in terms of prioritizing and making sure we are able to care for all those patients,” Hawley said.

McNeil said it has become more difficult to allocate resources in Cape Breton since the province merged nine regional health authorities into one body with four geographic regions in 2015.

McNeil wants the government to bring back the health care decision-making process in Cape Breton, because he said it would make it easier for departments to make changes when needed such as hiring staff or purchasing equipment.

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