With the provincial election just days away, Doctors Nova Scotia asked the province’s three main political parties about how they will work to improve health care in Nova Scotia.

Here is how they responded:

Question 1:  How will you ensure all Nova Scotians have a family doctor as part of a collaborative team?

Liberal party:

• A Nova Scotia Liberal government will build and expand 40 collaborative care clinics across the province to provide primary care where people need it. We will prioritize areas with the highest number of people waiting on a family doctor, to ensure that we can shorten the list and give Nova Scotians access to care as quickly as possible.

New Democratic party:

• The NDP will open a total of 45 collaborative Family Doctor Clinics across the province over the government’s four-year term. The province will deliver the infrastructure for these clinics and ensure that they are fully staffed with a diverse range of healthcare professionals to ensure that the family doctors are well supported.
• All Nova Scotians have a right to be attached to a Family Doctor Clinic. Family Doctor Clinics will connect Nova Scotians to a family doctor faster by moving to automatic, location-based attachments. In a primary care crisis, our priority is to connect patients and doctors as quickly as possible – this universal, automatic attachment model is being seen more and more around the globe as the best way to create primary care connections and the fastest way of reducing family doctor wait times.

Progressive Conservative party:

• Our party is fully committed to ensuring every Nova Scotian has access to a primary care practitioner, and we’ve made significant progress in addressing this issue. Since 2021, we’ve hired 256 new doctors, including 75 new family doctors. Our initiatives include a designated residency path for 10 international medical graduates, prioritizing those with ties to Nova Scotia, and establishing five new medical school seats at Cape Breton University to train rural family doctors.
• Between April and August, 73 new doctors were recruited to the province. We are also opening the world’s first International Medical Assessment Clinic, which will license 45 new doctors annually, speeding up the integration of internationally trained doctors into our health system.
• To support our physicians, we’ve invested $59 million to establish a second medical school campus at Cape Breton University in partnership with Dalhousie University. This campus, opening in 2025, will train 30 new doctors.
• Additionally, we’ve opened 21 new collaborative care clinics and strengthened 53 existing clinics, helping doctors manage more patients. These efforts have already resulted in a reduction of over 32,000 Nova Scotians waiting for a family doctor. We also have 36 more clinics on the way.
• A re-elected PC government will continue to build on these initiatives, ensuring every Nova Scotian has access to a family doctor and quality primary care

Question 2:  How will you support better coordination of information in the health-care system, so that doctors can access accurate and timely information about patients and health-care services?

Liberal party:

• A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that Nova Scotia’s health-care system data is reliable, accountable, and keeps Nova Scotian patients and doctors informed. We will ensure family doctor waitlists and other health care data portals are updated monthly, reflecting actual wait times and data. We will also ensure that all clinics use electronic medical records for continuity of care and ease of access for physicians. There are so many aspects of the health-care system that we don’t have accurate data on. We need to take strong action to collect the information we need to be able to make informed decisions about improving our health-care system.

New Democratic Party:

• A true collaborative approach to health care requires an easier flow of correspondence across related professions. We anticipate that the federal Bill C-72, the Connected Care For Canadians Act, will pass and create a framework for safe and secure exchange of health data. We will happily work with the federal government to implement changes in the province that allow for more connected care.
• The NDP agrees that better coordination of information in the health-care system is essential, especially with the increased use of AI and digitalization of patient information to enhance interoperability.
• A NDP government to review with DNS the use of AI in health care such as the use of AI scribers as there are emerging and developing concerns of patient privacy, the legal responsibility of retention of patient information, and the storage and use of patient data collected by AI scribers. These questions are live and pertinent for the protection of patients and for their doctors.

Progressive Conservative party:

• When we took office in 2021, Nova Scotia’s health-care system was outdated. Over the past three years, we have made significant investments to modernize it for both doctors and patients. We allocated $365 million to the One Patient, One Record initiative, creating an integrated electronic health records system where doctors can access comprehensive patient information and make digital requests for specialist referrals, consultations, and tests. This project was discussed as far back as 2015 but was overlooked by the Liberals until our investment in 2023.
• We also updated the Personal Health Information Act and implemented new Electronic Health Records Regulations this year to leverage real-time data for better health-care system planning and management. Additionally, we will establish a new Health System Performance and Accountability Council to monitor the quality and performance of the health system and make evidence-based recommendations for improvements to the Minister of Health and Wellness.
• A PC government will consult physicians and make the necessary investments to ensure that the flow of information in our health-care system is seamless and used to improve outcomes.

Question 3: How will you engage physicians and Doctors Nova Scotia in continuing to transform the health-care system?

Liberal party:

• We recognize the need to work alongside Doctors Nova Scotia and practising physicians in conversations about improvements to our health-care system, and we know the importance of having healthcare experts lead the improvement of our health-care system.  A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that the voices of experts like yourselves are heard and incorporated into important decisions about further development of the system.

New Democratic party:

• A NDP government will work collaboratively with doctors, and other health-care providers to find enduring results to make the health-care system healthy again.
• The NDP will open a total of 45 collaborative Family Doctor Clinics across the province over the government’s four-year term. We are committed to making these clinics a place where doctors want to work in by creating healthy work-life balance and giving doctors the ability to take vacation without worrying about their patient roster. This will not be possible without close consultation with Doctors Nova Scotia.
• We will ensure that there is two-way communication. We respect doctors and know that they understand what is happening on the ground. A NDP government will always be receptive to ideas of Doctors Nova Scotia.

Progressive Conservative party:

• Our government has consistently engaged with physicians to drive meaningful change in the health-care system. Whether through collaboration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia to develop transformative programs and policies, or by inviting Doctors Nova Scotia and the College of Physicians and Surgeons to legislative committee meetings to discuss key topics, we prioritize open dialogue and expert input. We recognize the vital role that medical professionals play in shaping effective health-care policies and remain committed to listening and collaborating with you— the medical experts — to continually improve the health system for all Nova Scotians.

Question 4: How will you support doctors and their families who are new to Nova Scotia, ensuring the province is a welcoming place for all?

Liberal party:

• A Nova Scotia Liberal government will ensure that there is sufficient infrastructure, including housing, roads, schools, and access to services, to support doctors and their families who are new to our province. Our immigration targets will prioritize much-needed physicians and allied health-care professionals, while simultaneously developing the much-needed infrastructure to support their healthy and happy lives in Nova Scotia.

New Democratic party:

• The NDP government will value every doctor that chooses to settle in Nova Scotia and will create a welcoming inclusive and equitable environment in this province to live, work and grow a family.
• A NDP government will work with DNS and community groups that provide services to newcomers to make sure that international medical graduates, or IMGs are settled and integrated into Nova Scotian communities and society.
• A NDP government is open to doctors new to Nova Scotia taking on smaller rosters without major impacts to their salary for the first years they arrive in the promise that those new to the province need time outside of work to get to know their new community to feel a sense of home.

Progressive Conservative party:

• Our government recognizes that supporting doctors and their families who are new to Nova Scotia is essential to both attracting and retaining skilled medical professionals. In 2023, we approved 763 health-care professionals, including 38 internationally trained doctors, through provincial immigration programs—a significant 88.9% increase compared to 2022. These doctors are provided with settlement services that include language training, employment support, and community connections to help them integrate smoothly and feel at home.
• To further enhance these supports, our government invested an additional $3 million in 2023 to strengthen settlement services specifically tailored to health-care workers and their families. Our goal is to make Nova Scotia a place where doctors and their families feel welcomed, supported, and able to thrive both professionally and personally. We will continue to invest in settlement services as we look to recruit more international doctors to our province

Want to read more? Find two more responses here, including what each party thinks about preventing physician burnout and how they will support more collaborative care in Nova Scotia.

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