The New Brunswick Health Council examined variability in health care quality in a new article which finds the experience can be quite different depending on where you live.
It studied the amount of time patients can spend with their family doctor and if they understood what was said.
Health Council CEO Stephane Robichaud said 56 per cent of New Brunswickers can get an appointment with their family doctor within five days.
“Among the communities, it can vary from 19.5 per cent, so in one community, only 19.5 per cent can see their family doctor within five days, to 75. 4 at the other end of the spectrum,” Robichaud said
On timely access to a family doctor, Robichaud said we need improvement.
When it comes to getting knee replacement surgery within the 26-week target, it varies from 29 per cent in the Saint John zone to 71 per cent in the Bathurst region.
“That’s fairly positive when looking at the provincial average. 65 [per cent] in Zone 4 but then it goes down to 29 per cent when you are at the Bay of Fundy, Zone 2, essentially around Saint John,” Robichaud said.
Part of the NBHC’s mandate is to inform New Brunswickers about our health system.
Check out this article on the variability in the health service quality provided in our province! https://t.co/fF0VTeXI78— NB Health Council (@NBHealthCouncil) February 10, 2021
Robichaud said the research shows how important it is to understand the struggles each community faces in accessing health services.
Only two in five New Brunswickers with chronic health conditions felt very confident about how it was being controlled and managed.
People living in the Kedgwick are even less confident, where only 22 per cent of residents reported being very confident about managing their health condition, while 47 per cent of those living in the New Maryland Area felt this way.
The New Brunswick Health Council concluded that the variability that exists across communities and regions is a symptom of a health system that needs to be more equitable.
The council thinks people expect to “receive a consistent level of health services regardless of where they live”.
Follow
