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In less than two months, Nova Scotians were asked to go to the polls to cast ballots in provincial and federal elections. We were inundated with lawn signs, flyers, TV and radio commercials, digital endorsements and social media diatribes, robo calls asking for support, and media reports highlighting candidates’ platforms, whereabouts and missteps.
Closer to home, on August 17th we saw sweeping changes as the progressive conservatives took power and, in short order, changed the familiar faces we’d become accustomed to after eight years of Liberal rule.
Premier Tim Houston handed the responsibility to make good on his campaign promise to fix health care to three former healthcare workers turned cabinet ministers. Off to a good start based on that alone.
First up, Premier Houston and his transition team did away with the CEO of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, Brendan Carr and the entire board of directors, a decision that was met with mixed reviews. He installed the newly elected, first-time MLA, Michelle Thompson as the Minister of Health and Wellness. The Premier also saw fit to create a new department of seniors and long-term care, with newly re-elected MLA Barb Adams at the helm, and a department of mental health and addictions to be overseen by relative newcomer Brian Comer, MLA for Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg.
I have always maintained that health care, which consumes 40% of the overall provincial budget, was a massive portfolio with far too much responsibility for one elected official. Health issues are broad and complex, requiring more oversight and direction than one department can manage, as evidenced. Dividing health into three separate departments, while creating an Office of Health Care Professionals Recruitment with the former deputy minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Kevin Orrell, as CEO, gives me hope.
In this coming year, the new government intends to spend about $430 million to recruit health professionals, improve access to care, establish a pension plan for doctors and construct 2500 new single long-term care beds, to name but a few pledges.
The premier’s vision includes:
- a plan focused on patient care and shorter wait times for surgery
- universal mental health care – a plan that treats mental health care like physical health care
- dignity for seniors – a plan for more beds and more staff
As a union that represents nurses, it’s imperative that government acknowledges our extensive list of concerns early in the coming months, most importantly, the critical nursing shortage. Understaffing is driving nurses from the profession and harming many of those who remain in practise.
I eagerly await the findings of the premier’s September 20 to 23 Speak Up for Health Care tour of the province as he and his team hear from frontline healthcare professionals. Direct consultation with our frontline is vital in resolving our multi-faceted problems. I am looking forward to meetings planned with union leadership and other healthcare stakeholders expected to follow the completion of this tour.
The new government has piqued our interest with assurances of investment, interventions and innovation. I remain hopeful that by working together we can fix what’s broken.
