NDP Leader Claudia Chender says Nova Scotians want proof that improvements are being made to the healthcare system.

Chender made the comments at the party’s caucus meeting being held in Mahone Bay Monday.

She says every week Nova Scotians hear government is making healthcare better while the number of people without access to primary care keeps growing.

“We just get sort of assurances that things are getting better but no evidence that things are getting better,” said Chender. “If you talk to the average Nova Scotian, I have yet to have a conversation in the last six months with anybody about health care who would argue that anything has improved people are seeing a steady decline and it's, it's very concerning.”

Chender sees a need for more long-term care facilities to open more beds in hospitals.

“In Dartmouth for instance, at any given time around half of the inpatient beds at the Dartmouth General Hospital are patients who have been approved for long term care. They don't need to be there. It is clear that we need more long-term care,” said Chender. “The Liberal government built almost no long-term care beds in over eight years, and we pushed for it that whole time and I think we're seeing some of the results of that now in the challenges were having in our hospitals.”

Chender says a model based on the collaborative care centres which her party began to implement when they were in power would provide people with access to healthcare professionals.

She says combining multiple ways to access care under one roof would allow a person to come in, be triaged and then directed to the appropriate caregiver.

“We believe that we every Nova Scotia needs to be attached to a single practice. That may not mean that you get to see a doctor all the time. You might see a nurse practitioner, you might see a physician assistant, you might see a pharmacist or social worker depending on what you need, but your file lives in a certain place and your care is coordinated,” said Chender.

The NDP leader says considering the number of baby boomers heading into retirement and needing medical care, it’s widely recognized people will have to adjust to the reality of not having a family doctor, not just in this province but across the country.

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