Last night, under the leadership of Stephen McNeil, the Nova Scotia Liberal Party won a majority government.

During the campaign, doctors asked political parties to reduce wait times, improve mental health and addiction services, invest in health promotion, and improve access to primary care.

Here’s some of the ways the Liberals committed to improving health care in the province:

• Reinvest in front-line health care by reducing the number of CEOs and Vice Presidents and reducing the District Health Authorities from 10 to 2.
• Develop a province-wide surgical plan for Nova Scotia 
• Meet the national standard of 6 months for hip and knee replacements. 
• Establish a Chronic Disease Innovation Fund to improve patient outcomes 
• Provide up to $120,000 in tuition relief to 25 new doctors per year for four years, in exchange for a five-year commitment to practice in under-serviced communities 
• Update the Continuing Care Strategy
• Develop a provincial Dementia Strategy

Doctors are looking forward to working with the new government to reduce wait times, improve services and increase the sustainability of the province’s health-care system.

One area where doctors would like investments to be made is in health promotion and disease prevention. Investing in health promotion strategies is an effective way to address many health care challenges.

Congrats Liberals! Let’s get to work.

Liberal platform