Action for Health Data Updated

Updated healthcare data is now available on the Action for Health website.

“The most recent data shows continued progress in some areas, but also highlights areas where we need to do more,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson. “Nova Scotians want and deserve to see evidence of the changes we’re making to improve our healthcare system. There is still much more to do, and we will continue to focus our efforts on the areas that matter most to Nova Scotians.”

A new indicator to track progress in reducing red tape and unnecessary administrative burden for doctors, staff and patients through legislative changes and new and improved processes and forms has been added.

The latest data – from the first quarter of 2023-24, April 1 to June 30 – shows ongoing positive trends in some areas. The target for admissions to long-term care continues to be met, and the number of people removed from the surgical wait list has been larger than the number of patients added for five consecutive quarters.

The Action for Health website is updated quarterly: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth/

Action for Health, launched in April 2022, is the government’s plan to improve healthcare in Nova Scotia. There is work underway and progress on all six of the plan’s broad solutions and their individual action items have been updated. Some highlights from the first quarter include:

• reduced the surgical wait list; completed more surgeries and procedures
• continued to grow the number of doctors in Nova Scotia; 168 doctors started practicing here between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023, a net gain of 86 physicians
• added more nursing seats at Nova Scotia Community College and a new nursing program at Acadia University, in partnership with Cape Breton University
• launched a new incentive for family doctors with an office-based practice, to match patients with greatest need with a family doctor sooner
• invested in 60 new and enhanced clinics to connect more people to primary care
• launched the Care Coordination Centre, giving healthcare teams real-time information on things like hospital bed availability, wait lists, ambulance offloads and patient transfers to help them provide better, faster care to patients.

Nova Scotians can also get data on access to primary healthcare on the Action for Health website’s daily dashboard, such as:

• in June, there were 1,407 visits to mobile primary care clinics, 5,000 visits to urgent treatment centres, 6,437 visits to VirtualCareNS and 5,070 visits to primary care clinics
• more than 124,000 people on the Need a Family Practice Registry now have access to primary care clinics and everyone on the list is eligible for free virtual care
• more than 66,000 Nova Scotians on the registry have signed up for VirtualCareNS.

Additional Resources:

Action for Health daily dashboard: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/nova.scotia.health/viz/ActionforHealth-PublicReporting/Overview

Patients Before Paperwork: Reducing Red Tape for Physicians: https://novascotia.ca/actionforhealth/assets/docs/FINALORASE%20Expanded%20Initiatives%20List.pdf

News release – Strategic Plan to Improve Healthcare in Nova Scotia: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20220422001

Mandate letter of the Minister of Health and Wellness: https://novascotia.ca/exec_council/letters-2021/ministerial-mandate-letter-2021-DHW.pdf