Getting in to see your doctor or nurse is getting harder, N.B. survey finds
CBC
About 85 per cent of New Brunswickers have access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, but only one in three people can get an appointment within five days, according to the New Brunswick Health Council's latest survey on primary care.
People in the Campbellton region, Zone 5, experienced the worst timely access in 2022, with only 17 per cent being able to see their primary care provider within that time frame, the results released Wednesday show.
It's a sharp decrease from 2020, when nearly 90 per cent of New Brunswickers reported having access to a primary care provider and nearly 51 per cent said they could get an appointment with their family doctor within five days, said executive director Stéphane Robichaud.
'What we're seeing is, as we're multiplying the options to access a doctor," such as after-hours clinics and eVisitNB virtual care, "it's affecting people who already have a primary care provider and that primary care provider's availability to practise in their own practice," said Robichaud.
Nearly two out of three (62.6 per cent) people with a primary care provider reported using at least one other health-care service in the previous year due to the unavailability of their provider.
The top three services included:
New Brunswickers have also experienced greater difficulties in navigating the health-care system over the past couple of years and are becoming less confident in managing their chronic health condition, according to the more than 5,000 people aged 18 and older surveyed between October 2022 and January 2023.
Nearly 22 per cent reported having trouble finding their way around the health-care system in 2022, up from 7.6 per cent in 2020. The Fredericton region, Zone 3, saw the biggest jump, to more than 26 per cent, from roughly eight.
Only about 33 per cent said they are very confident in managing their chronic health condition, down from nearly 41 per cent.
Robichaud says more oversight of how doctors and nurse practitioners practise medicine is needed.
As it stands, solutions have been driven by various groups, such as the Department of Health, the New Brunswick Medical Society, the regional health authorities and Ambulance New Brunswick Extra-Mural, he said.
"We need to clarify authority for primary care. Who is responsible at the end of the day to understand the needs of the population, the current state of health-service quality, and is responsible for the plans and approaches that are being put forward."
The Department of Health is reviewing the survey results and welcomes having more information and data, said spokesperson Sean Hatchard.
He noted the survey was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic when not all primary care services were fully accessible, but acknowledged many New Brunswickers struggle to access their family doctor or nurse practitioner in a timely fashion.
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