Doctors in Nova Scotia are super stressed because there aren't enough of them, and the situation might get worse with more retirements. The problem of not having enough doctors could get worse because a bunch of them might retire soon., says the former head of the association representing physicians in the province.
Dr. Leisha Hawker, former head of Doctors Nova Scotia, said at a government meeting that emergency and family doctors are under a ton of pressure because there are over 200 job openings for doctors.
Hawker mentioned in an interview after the meeting that many doctors are being asked to take on more patients even though they are already struggling to give timely care to their current patients.
Hawker told the meeting that about 25% of family doctors in Nova Scotia are 60 years old or older and might be thinking about retiring. As doctors and their patients age, the care they need gets more complicated.
Hawker said in an interview that the stress on family doctors and emergency doctors has really gone up a lot in the past 10 years.
She said that as of March 4, there were 213 openings for doctors in Nova Scotia and 129 of them were in family medicine.
Meanwhile, as of March 1, about 16% of Nova Scotians — 156,000 people — were waiting for primary care.
Recent changes to Nova Scotia doctors’ contract and payment model give Hawker some hope that things will get better, even with the shortage of doctors.
A spokesperson from the provincial office for health-care recruitment said that from April 1, 2023, to Jan. 31, 2024, the province added 96 net new doctors to the health system, and 13 of them are family doctors.
Doctors Nova Scotia said there are 1,343 family doctors working in Nova Scotia, including ones who don't have a regular practice or patients, and those who work in emergency medicine, addictions medicine, palliative care, and as hospitalists.
Janet Hazelton, head of the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union, said at the meeting that nurses are also super stressed because they have to deal with more complex cases as the population gets older.
Hazelton mentioned in an interview that the workload for nurses is harder now and there are fewer nurses, which is not good.
Hazelton reported that there are about 1,500 job vacancies for nurses across Nova Scotia's health system.
This article by The Canadian Press was first published on March 19, 2024.
