Health Minister says top priority is to provide every New Brunswicker with a family doctor
The New Brunswick government released a strategy Wednesday with six priorities for reforming the province’s health-care system, but Health Minister John Dornan said one of them is particularly important to him.
This is ensuring that everyone in the province has a family doctor.
“If everyone in New Brunswick had access to primary care, so they could stay well, not get sick, not need to go to hospitals, then I think we would accomplish what I want to do when I work with this government,” Dornan said at a news event in Saint John.
The Holt Government has made the establishment of supportive-care clinics a centerpiece of this effort.
It has established six of them so far, with the goal of adding at least four more by the end of the year. By 2028, the government has promised to establish at least 30 collaborative-care clinics across the province.
The Liberal government’s sweeping plan to reform the province’s health-care system includes commitments ranging from better cancer screening to a 50-bed treatment facility.
Depending on the needs of the community where the clinic is located, there will be a mix of health care professionals such as doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and mental health specialists.
Currently, only 77 percent of New Brunswickers have a primary care provider. In a January address to the province outlining the Holt government’s priorities, Dornan said the goal was 79 per cent by the end of this year and 85 percent by 2028,
Are collaborative-care clinics making a difference?
Dornan, a doctor and former CEO of Horizon Health Network, said provincial officials don’t yet have the data to measure their efforts, but he’s hearing the new clinics are making a difference.
“People are connecting with family doctors,” Dornan said. “We get telephone calls, emails – people who are waiting, but also people who have been connected – and they are quite grateful. People have been on the waiting list for years and now they are being picked up by some of the clinics we have announced.
“This isn’t all down the road. It’s happening today.”
The six priority areas unveiled Wednesday at St. John’s Regional Hospital were primary care, workforce, seniors, urgent care, mental health and addictions, and connected services.
Premier Susan Holt said elements of the five-year plan, care of new brunswickIt’s all about patients being able to receive effective, timely care.
“All of these things are focused on making sure people are getting the right care from the right person at the right place, at the right time,” Holt said.
Senior citizens are the next priority for the post of minister.
Dornan said his next top priority is “respectful care” for seniors.
The waiting list for a New Brunswick nursing home bed currently exceeds 1,000 hundreds of seniors Those being treated in acute care beds in hospitals could live in long-term care homes in their communities if there were space available.
He said senior care priorities include better community health support, not just moving seniors with critical care needs into nursing homes.
It’s not just about getting people out of hospitals; It keeps them in the community, provides them with better equipment, better standardization of care.– Health Minister John Dornan
“It’s not just about getting people out of hospitals; it’s keeping them in the community, giving them better equipment, better standardization of care,” he said.
Holt said the province continues to expand support services for independently living seniors. Measures ranging from Individual social visits to help access government programs and services.
“We are seeing some good progress nursing home without wallsAnd now as we move toward home care and long-term care reform, I think New Brunswickers will see gradual improvements in the system,” the Premier said.
Holt identified a sixth priority, related care, which is “near and dear to my heart.”
According to the Department of Health, only 50 per cent of physicians in the province are using electronic medical record systems, something Holt said needs to be addressed if patients are to receive integrated, effective care.
He said initiatives like MyHealthNB empower patients by providing them digital access to their health records.
“It should be a priority to ensure that all the touch points a New Brunswicker experiences in their care are digitally connected behind the scenes, so that the record of your care, the view of how you’re doing, is accessible to a health care professional who is serving you,” Holt said.
