How long will Nova Scotians have to wait to access primary care? - QP

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, I'd like to talk about Evelyn Hornbeck. I'd like to ask the Premier about Evelyn Hornbeck. She is one of the thousands of Nova Scotians who don't have access to primary care. She relies on a controlled prescription that she can't get at a walk-in or a pharmacy. She needs primary care but she has no idea when she will get it.

Meanwhile, the Premier has provided no details about the future of primary care. What is it going to look like in a global supply shortage of doctors and nurses with over 100,000 Nova Scotians on a list for primary care? The Premier can call doctors all day long but people will still be waiting.

My question is a simple one, Mr. Speaker: How long do Nova Scotians have to wait for access to primary care?

THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, I guess what I would say is we inherited a situation that is going to take some time to fix. I have been very, very clear with Nova Scotians on that. But guess what? It will take time and money, which I have always been very open about, which is hard for people to accept from a politician, but I have been very open and clear. What I would tell the member is that we have taken a number of steps: the expansion of virtual care, offering jobs to every nursing graduate, 200 more nursing seats. Ask a CCA if we've addressed the affordability issue.

The steps we have taken in health care will take time but I want to assure the member that we had to get the soil ready and the soil was pretty hard after eight years of neglect. Then we had to plant some seeds. The seeds are being watered and they will grow. We have planted an incredible amount of seeds to improve health care in this province.

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : We'll turn away from gardening and back to health care. Mr. Speaker, I'll ask about Vickie Gray. Vickie Gray turned to social media recently to share her frustrations. She had to close her small business while she waits for surgery. Meanwhile her doctor has advised her not to use her wrist. She can't turn a key, grip a doorknob, type, lift. Wait times for her surgery in Antigonish are close to two years. In Halifax she was told it would be closer to three.

There are thousands of people in this province in Vickie's situation, Mr. Speaker, in pain and with their lives on hold. So I will ask the Premier again: How long do Nova Scotians have to wait for decent access to the health care they deserve?

THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, of course there are challenges. Nobody will deny the challenges. There is a lot of good happening. There is a surgery wait-list, yes, but just yesterday hundreds of surgeries happened across this province. Yes, there are issues in the emergency room, but just yesterday 2,000 people were seen in the emergency. There are things happening and the Opposition wants Nova Scotians to be fearful of what's happening in the health care system.

I will assure you, Nova Scotians know one thing and they have confidence in one thing: This is the government that is getting things done.

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, health care for Nova Scotians has become less accountable, less accessible and more precarious by every measure over the past year. Spencer Thomas's four-year old recently became ill with a fever and a rash. The family tried six different walk-ins to try to see a doctor. They failed. They then went to six different pharmacies to try to find medication. They never did see a doctor in Nova Scotia, but they finally got a diagnosis at a walk-in in Ontario, where they went on a pre-planned family trip.

Vickie, Evelyn, Spencer and his family, and thousands of other Nova Scotians are quite literally getting sick of waiting for things to get better. I would like to ask the Premier one last time: How long will they have to wait until they have access to basic health care?

THE PREMIER « » : Mr. Speaker, these tragic stories touch us all, for sure. They are what drive us as a government, the reason we are pushing forward.

I guess what I would say to the member and to the Nova Scotians she referenced, I want them to know how much work is happening, how hard the government is working. There's no overnight solution. There's no magic wand. We've always been very honest with that, and the direct answer to the question of how long is that it's shorter than if that government was still in power.