Progress Report Released on Strengthening Primary Care

The first progress report on a pilot project to strengthen primary health care in Nova Scotia communities was released today.

The assessment shows the project, called Strengthening Primary Care, is working well at each of the four demonstration sites. Each site has available to patients in their communities a team of physicians and nurse practitioners working together.

For patients, the most obvious benefit is improved access to primary-care providers and a broader range of primary-care services, including health promotion.

Jean Weare, a patient at the North Queens Community Health Centre in Caledonia, offers an example.

“It makes a mother feel good knowing that we have access to the nurse practitioner here . . . because a lot of times we have to travel to Bridgewater to see a doctor, and it’s just too far to go,” she comments.

Primary care is defined as a person’s initial and continuing contact with the health care system. The Strengthening Primary Care project aims to enhance primary-care services at the four participating demonstration sites at physicians’ offices or clinics in Springhill, Pictou West, Caledonia (North Queens) and Halifax

“What I think is a real strength of this project is its adaptability,” said Dr. John Fraser, a family physician with the North End Community Health Centre in Halifax. “Each community can adapt the role of a nurse practitioner to provide the services needed in that community.”

Chief among the achievements listed in the report are:

• Nurse practitioners and physicians at each site have developed collaborative practice agreements and are working together to provide care to their communities.

• Advanced computer systems have been installed at each site and training has been given to users of this state-of-the-art system.

• A comprehensive evaluation of the project has been designed and is under way.

Chief among the lessons learned is the need for “champions” or key supporters at each site and within each community.

“We’ve learned that leadership by communities and providers, and support to those leaders, is key to making a change as big as this,” said Harriet McCready, director of primary care for the Department of Health. “The next step will be to apply what we have learned from this project as we continue to work with all the key players to improve primary health care in Nova Scotia.”

The goals of the initiative include improving:

• patient-centred care;

• responsiveness to the community needs;

• access to primary care services;

• health promotion and illness prevention;

• collaboration and accountability.

“Most of what we’ve learned over the past 15 months confirms this project is worthwhile and successful in helping patients get the care they need, when and where they need it,” said Health Minister Jamie Muir.

“Community-based care means responsive care. At this halfway point, I want to thank the people who support this project in each community. Without their help, there wouldn’t be the good news we have today.”

As part of the project, each of the four demonstration sites:

• hired a nurse practitioner to work in collaboration with a physician and other health care providers,

• uses computerized information systems,

• adopted an alternative payment method for physicians, and

• participates in an ongoing evaluation.

The project was funded jointly by the provincial Department of Health and Health Canada’s Health Transition Fund. Although Health Canada funding for the project ended on March 31, the province will continue to fund the project until December 2002.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The full report and a fact sheet summarizing achievements and lessons learned are available; please e-mail [email protected] for a copy. -30-