Doctor wait list jumps by 23K since November, N.B. health plan update reveals

About 63,000 New Brunswickers are now waiting for a doctor — 23,000 more than when the province announced its new health plan in November. 

But Suzanne Johnston, co-president of the health plan implementation task force, told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday that there are other options in place while New Brunswick works toward broadening patient access to care.

"How do we spread the message that there's more than one way to access care and more than one way to support one another in this," Johnston said of the task force's objective. 

When the province announced its health plan, about 40,000 people were on the Patient Connect New Brunswick list. 

The need for targets and speed of implementation were part of the plan, which promised that by the second quarter of 2022-23, the list would be eliminated and replaced by the New Brunswick Primary Care Network. 

With the network, anyone without a family doctor or nurse practitioner would be able to access one in a timely manner while waiting for a longer-term placement. 

Asked how close the province is to meeting this target, Johnston cited the wait list numbers — 11,000 people have been added to the list since February — and suggested that while everyone on the wait list may not wind up with their own doctor, they will have better access to care.

She said some of the increase is likely related to the people who have moved to the province recently.

But she reiterated that people have to start thinking about the challenge of health care access and the solutions in different ways.

Right now, the work is focused on short-term stabilization and medium and long-term thinking, she said. In the short term, for instance, greater access to care is being provided through eVisitNB appointments and referrals through 811.

Task force members indicated they'd spent much of their time since November meeting with community and health-care  leaders and learning about problems, potential solutions, and changes in some places that are already producing results.

Gérard Richard, co-president of the health plan implementation task force, said work is being done to establish key performance indicators so the group will know if the plan needs to be adjusted. 

"Just to talk about a plan, that's not enough. … We have to have targets.

Richard stressed the importance of the group's work so far in meeting and making connections with communities.