Family doctor waitlist numbers drop, Nova Scotia Health reports

CITYnews halifax / By Dan Ahlstrand

The province is reporting just over 9,000 names have been removed from the list of Nova Scotians waiting for a family doctor.

The new data released by Nova Scotia Health on Tuesday showed 110,456 people who are in need of a doctor.

The January numbers are down by about 9,200 from the numbers released at the beginning of December, but still represent about 10 per cent of the current population of Nova Scotia.

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Nova Scotia Health says the people removed over the last month were either attached to a doctor or removed due to ongoing validation work.

The next scheduled update to the list is set for early in February.

The health authority noted that the wait list has been decreasing over the last several months — a drop the premier credits to programs aimed at reducing the doctor shortage.

However, the numbers are still far higher than the summer of 2022 — after the Progressive Conservatives took office — when there were slightly more than 100,000 people seeking to be attached to a doctor or other family care practitioner.

Karen Oldfield, chief executive of Nova Scotia Health, previously said in a news release the organization is “cautiously optimistic” the downward trend will continue in the number of people waiting for doctors.

She credited the drop to ongoing recruitment efforts, including the creation of an assessment centre to help certify foreign-trained doctors more quickly.