Nearly 180,000 people in New Brunswick are without a primary care provider, prompting the Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick (NPNB) to call for essential updates to our healthcare system.
During an interview with our newsroom, President-Elect Sharon Hamilton stated that the organization is urging a transformative strategy that would enable nurse practitioners (NPs) to either start their own or join other publicly funded collaborative primary care clinics.
This strategy seeks to guarantee that every resident has timely and complete access to healthcare, rather than being limited to employment with Horizon or Vitalité.
“The problem with that is often they don’t have positions that are available for nurse practitioners or they don’t have the positions available in place where the nurse practitioners actually leave,” said Hamilton.
Officials from NPNB highlighted that British Columbia and Alberta have already adopted a model where nurse practitioners can either head primary care clinics or integrate into existing team-based environments.
A comparable approach could be implemented in New Brunswick to enhance primary care accessibility, lower healthcare expenses, and boost patient satisfaction.
- Greater Accessibility: An increase in primary care choices, particularly in underserved communities.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Lower healthcare costs are achieved through early preventive care and effective chronic disease management.
- Emergency Department Relief: A decrease in the load on emergency services, resulting in quicker service for patients.
- Professional Contentment: More favourable working conditions for nurse practitioners, enhancing job satisfaction and retention rates.
- Patient Engagement: Faster healthcare access cultivates better relationships with providers and enriches the overall patient journey.
Nurse Practitioners of New Brunswick has reached out to all the provincial party leaders for meetings to discuss the next steps to modernize primary care and how to empower nurse practitioners to transform health care.
“We have spoken to the Liberal Party’s Susan Holt and the Green Party’s David Coon, and they have expressed the recognition of the primary care shortage and certainly have the willingness to work with us to explore solutions. We hope to speak with the Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs but we have not as yet,” Hamilton continued.
The NPNB hopes all New Brunswickers have access to primary care by 2026.
