March 2019

Four communities in Northern Nova Scotia are welcoming six new nurses who have joined collaborative family practice teams.

“We are focused on making sure more people are getting the care they need, when they need it,“ said Colchester North MLA Karen Casey. “By hiring these nurses and creating more health teams in our communities, we are able to improve access for more Nova Scotians.”

Over the last seven months the positions filled include:

3 Nurse Practitioner (New Glasgow, Truro, Amherst)

3 Family Practice Nurses (Truro, Elmsdale, Amherst)

 Four new teams have been created and an existing team has been strengthened as a result of the hires.

 “Creating more collaborative family practice teams supports enhanced access to comprehensive primary health care,” said Karen Pyra, Director, Primary Health Care, Family Practice, and Chronic Disease Management, Northern Zone, NSHA. “Many family doctors and nurse practitioners want to work as part of a team, and by creating more collaborative family practice teams, this supports our ability to recruit and retain primary health care professionals in our communities.”

130 health professionals such as nurses, social workers and dietitians, have been hired in Nova Scotia since March 2017 as Government and Nova Scotia Health Authority continue to create and expand collaborative family practice teams across.

With the help of these teams we are seeing progress. The number of people on the 811 Need A Family Practice Registry has declined four months in a row. More than 75,000 Nova Scotians have found a family practice in the past two years, including almost 10,000 people in the Northern part of the province.