New Brunswick’s doctors recognise new provincial patient registry

The President of the New Brunswick Medical Society recognised the launch of a new provincial patient registry yesterday.

“Thousands of New Brunswickers feel like they’ve spent years on a wait list to get a family doctor, and that’s because they have,” Dr Robert Desjardins said. “We sincerely hope that this attempt improves upon the last effort and are keen to see results. This is a good step.”

The new service, Patient Connect NB, has some key differences from the last iteration. It is provincial and bilingual, and appears to be run by Service New Brunswick and Telehealth – as suggested by the Medical Society a year ago.

While a better process than the last one is essential, Dr Desjardins outlined the need to have a light at the end of the tunnel for patients joining the list. Family medicine residents in the Maritimes have recently written the Alward Government to outline the lack of opportunities for family doctors in the province. They’ve asked the province to stop imposing limits on the number of doctors who can practice in New Brunswick, known as the billing number system.

“New Brunswickers believe that once you’re on a wait list, you expect to receive proper care – and they know that we have family doctors interested in New Brunswick that are being stymied by the system,” explained Dr Desjardins.  “The next step is to give up on the failed bureaucracy of billing numbers and provide opportunities for young, homegrown family doctors to take thousands of patients off this new list.”

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Founded in 1867, the New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS) is the professional association representing all physicians in New Brunswick. It is a provincial division of the Canadian Medical Association. Its twin goals are to represent and serve physicians, and advocate for the health of New Brunswickers. Over a hundred New Brunswick doctors sit on our Board and Committees, representing the 1600 doctors in the province.

NBMS Media Contact 506-458-8860