Fifteen percent of Nova Scotians are officially waiting for a family doctor or nurse practitioner—the highest tally the province has seen since Nova Scotia Health launched its Need a Family Practice Registry in 2018. As of June 1, 2023, there are 148,431 people on the province’s primary care waitlist. That’s an uptick of more than […]
Healthcare
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s primary care waitlist tops 145,000
If there is a bright spot to be drawn from Nova Scotia Health’s latest update on reversing a provincewide primary care shortage, it is this: While a net of 2,741 more Nova Scotians joined the growing waitlist for a family doctor or nurse practitioner in April, the pace of that list’s growth—for one month, at […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s primary care waitlist surpasses 140,000 mark
More than six years since Nova Scotia Health began reporting on improving patient access to primary care, the number of Nova Scotians who say they’re in need of a family doctor or nurse practitioner has more than quintupled. As of the latest Need a Family Practice Registry report, released on April 14, there are now […]
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Correction to The Coast’s reporting on suspended Ozempic doctor
Whether or not you are a subscriber to The Coast Daily newsletter, I want to be forthcoming about an error in today’s edition of the newsletter, which was sent out earlier this morning, April 10. Due to an editing error, we gave the incorrect name of the physician who has been suspended from practise due […]
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Nova Scotia’s primary care reporting is delayed (again). Here’s why that matters.
If you have bad news to share, wait for a Friday afternoon. That tenet, if you’ve worked in newsrooms or followed corporate and government communications for any stretch of time, is well-worn and polished enough to have earned its own moniker: The “Friday afternoon news dump.” The logic behind The Dump is dead simple: Whatever […]
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Nova Scotia’s primary care waitlist is growing (again). And the province is falling behind in its reporting.
When a heart issue sent Lunenburg’s Leanne Morin to the emergency department while visiting family in Hawaii, the ER staff recommended she follow up with her doctor in Nova Scotia. The only problem? She doesn’t have one. Leanne and her husband, Joel, have been on the province’s primary care waitlist ever since moving from Montreal […]
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Nova Scotia’s government says it will spend “tens of millions” to fix emergency department woes. Will it work?
Nova Scotia’s health minister stopped short of describing the province’s latest health spending announcement as a “blank cheque,” but that might as well have been the message Wednesday as premier Tim Houston’s government shared its latest plans to “go like hell” in addressing a health-care system sorely in need of mending. On Jan. 18, health […]
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Nova Scotia’s emergency departments are facing a “complete unravelling”
If you visited a Nova Scotia emergency department for a health concern in December, your odds of leaving the hospital alive were the lowest they’ve been in the past six years. That’s according to Nova Scotia Health numbers recently obtained by the NS NDP through a Freedom of Information request. About one in 666 Nova […]
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Nova Scotia’s primary health care picture has never been worse
If you’re reading this in Nova Scotia in 2023 and you don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner, take this small grain of comfort: You’ve never been less alone. As of Nova Scotia Health’s latest report, there are now more than 129,000 Nova Scotians on the province’s waitlist for a primary care provider. That’s […]
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Health care is the most pressing issue of 2023 (for real)
In last week’s Coast poll, we asked our readers “What major issue do you most want to see our politicians address in 2023?” Overwhelmingly—with 43% of all votes cast—you responded that health care was the most pressing concern, above the housing crisis (39%), climate action (13%) or food security (5%). And this was before we […]
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Psychedelics are becoming big business. Is Nova Scotia ready?
The glitzy hotel conference room surroundings said as much about psychedelics’ rise to mainstream interest as anything else. In the basement of the Atlantica Hotel in mid-November, a group of 30-odd academics, therapists, mycologists and MBAs mingled to discuss the latest research and commercial forays into magic mushrooms, MDMA and other psychedelic tools of therapeutic […]
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Nova Scotia-based health startup trials magic mushrooms as PTSD treatment
Nova Scotia’s first clinical trial involving psilocybin—the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms—will receive its first volunteer patients this week. The Windsor-based Halucenex Life Sciences Inc. is trialling the compound for use in treating severe post-traumatic stress. The psychedelic compound production company is banking on the drug’s potential as a breakthrough therapeutic treatment for veterans and […]