A strategy is needed to improve women’s healthcare in Nova Scotia, according to the NDP.
They say patients who need gynecological surgery face the worst surgical wait times across the province and wait nearly three times longer than other Canadians.
“Gynecological care is just one part of women’s health care; we have outrageous wait times that leave women living in pain and tremendous anxiety. Despite these realities, the government says a women’s health strategy is not a priority,” said NDP Leader Claudia Chender.
She says if we don’t have a comprehensive overview of the problems, the government wouldn’t know the necessary steps to fix them.
“There is no good reason for the government to drag their feet on a women’s health strategy to make sure the care women need is there when they need it.”
The NDP says it’s clear there is no plan to address these unacceptable gaps in care and that a women’s health strategy would create a roadmap to help address and understand the growing need for care and additional specialists needed to provide it.
They say a plan is badly needed to ensure the Houston government’s spending leads to the results needed by women and gender-diverse Nova Scotians.
Minister of Health and Wellness, Michelle Thompson addressed these issues in cabinet Thursday.
“We look at all of our specialist wait times and certainly we recognize that there are certain specialties across the province that do have extended period of time for that and gynecology is one of those services. So work is always underway. It’s not always about more people,” shared Thompson.
“We don’t have a central waitlist so similar to surgery those some of those areas are blind to us so we’re not sure you know what the regional waitlists are they’re all separate and so there is work that’s beginning now around understanding those waitlists and where the problems are and how we can improve it.”
Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the IWK, Dr. James Bentley says they know they need more doctors but doesn’t know how many more are needed to fix the problem.
The NDP says three-quarters of women told IWK Foundation researchers that they feel their health-care needs are not being met.
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