Based on recent NBHC data, 180,000 New Brunswickers are currently without a primary care provider. The New Brunswick Medical Society advocates for every New Brunswicker to have access to a permanent family physician and/or nurse practitioner within a well-supported team-based clinic in their community.

Immediately stabilize current family practices

• Remunerate all physicians based partly on the size of their panels to encourage patient attachment.
• Allow all physicians to be reimbursed for nurses and other allied health professionals to increase timely access to care.
• Reimburse physicians for the time spent on government forms and other administrative duties.

Launch and fund a comprehensive program to support a universal patient medical home model

• Launch and appropriately fund a flagship Patient Medical Home initiative that will create or transform primary care clinics across the province into team-based models of care.
• Allow for clinician-led, community-led and RHA-led primary care clinics to co-exist within the initiative to better respond to community needs.
• Set a goal to attach every single patient in the province to a primary-care provider within a patient medical home clinic by the end of the next mandate.

Promoting healthy living and preventative care for all New Brunswickers is essential to reversing the rise of chronic diseases in the province. These initiatives not only improve individual well-being but also reduce the strain on our health-care system, creating a sustainable path toward better health outcomes for all. The New Brunswick Medical Society advocates for prioritizing healthy living and preventative care.

• Introduce comprehensive preventative health programs, ensuring access to safe and affordable housing, investing in sports and active living infrastructure, and providing robust mental health supports, to foster a healthier, more resilient province.
• Create a Universal School Food Program in New Brunswick schools. Healthy eating can be linked directly to positive educational outcomes and is one of the greatest predictors of future population health. It is the reason most developed countries provide food programs in their school systems.
• For only a few dollars per day per student, we can ensure that schools in our province provide a healthy meal to every student and set them up for success for the rest of their lives. New Brunswick children can’t wait any longer and sending them to food banks is not a long-term solution to this problem.

Over the past 20 years, successive governments have made consolidation, centralization, savings and efficiencies the principal measures of progress within our health system. In the process of becoming the ‘cheapest’ health-care system in Canada, we have experienced record-breaking increases to wait lists and longer delays for essential services. The New Brunswick Medical Society advocates for long-term investments to stabilize and transform the primary and acute care systems, while also prioritizing the respect for and retention of healthcare professionals to ensure continuous, high-quality service.

Inflation-adjusted Budget Increases

• Commitment to increase the health budget annually, by 4.9%, in line with inflation in the health sector, throughout the entire mandate.

Stabilize Health Human Resources

• Invest in competitive remuneration, incentives, and benefits to ensure New Brunswick attracts and retains top talent, staying on par with neighbouring provinces.

Fix long-term care

• Invest in permanent patient discharge teams operating on a seven-day acute care schedule in every region of the province.
• Create additional affordable long-term care options for New Brunswickers.