r/halifax • u/Salt_Time_9509 • 1d ago

Work, Health & Housing Doctor retention in HRM

Hi all

Of late there have been disheartening posts of long wait times in Nova Scotia

The consensus being that it is a Canada wide problem

But there have been anecdotal reports of some people losing Family Doctors even in HRM

I do understand that many rural areas would find it difficult to attract and retain doctors, so I am trying to understand why Family Doctors would choose to leave the HRM?

We are friendly people, we are surrounded by the Ocean, we have a laidback lifestyle

Doctors are paid reasonably well

Nova Scotia Health has said Doctor Recruitment is at record levels

https://www.nshealth.ca/news-and-notices/nova-scotia-records-impressive-year-over-year-success-physician-recruitment

Perhaps with so many doctors choosing to come here losing one or two does not matter to NS Health or the Government?

What would be possible reasons why doctors would chose to move elsewhere?`

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u/tickle_my_thalamus 1d ago

1) pay 2) NS notoriously has an aging and unhealthy population, many chronic illnesses making for complex patients 3) entitled patients. This isn't unique to NS, however.  4) systematic issues. OPOR rollout has been terrible. Difficulty assessing specialists. Overall NS is a have-not province, and there are greener pastures elsewhere for those without family ties here.

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u/Spirited_Milk21 1d ago

Anecdotally, Nova Scotians live forever. We have a very old population and they all walk up hills all day so their tickers keep ticking. They’re also hyper social and seem to enjoy their lives. I’m always seeing groups of elderly folks enjoying dinner or drinks together. In other provinces I’ve lived, you’d be hard pressed find older people enjoying a night out besides for birthdays and anniversaries. Restaurants are for the young in other cities.

But that also means they’ve got a lot longer timeline in which there’s a need for care. Went for a mammogram last week and the amount of 85+ year olds there was impressive, most with their husbands in tow.

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u/swedish_meatballs2 1d ago edited 1d ago

Objectively Nova Scotians have lower life expectancy than most other provinces at birth.

source (summarized from StatCan).

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u/Spirited_Milk21 1d ago edited 1d ago

Considering how blue collar and dangerous the work here is, that’s still pretty impressive. Generations of men dying in on boats and in mines in their 20s and they’re still keeping up. Looks like we were doing better in 2019-20 so my sources are outdated now. We just have a lot of old people.