N.B. on ‘right track’ with family health teams: medical group president

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New Brunswick is on the “right track” with its expansion of family health teams in line with other provinces across Canada, says the head of the national medical association.

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More than a dozen new family health teams have opened their doors in New Brunswick over the last year, linking thousands of patients to primary care providers.

“I would say New Brunswick has done an excellent job in establishing more team-based care centres and there have been several announcements recently, so I think many provinces are on the right track,” said Dr. Margot Burnell, a Saint John oncologist who is the new president of the Canadian Medical Association.

To date, Vitalité Health Network has 21 family health teams – the majority of which opened this year – with another five set to come online shortly. That’s up from 10 family health teams, according to the regional health authority’s 2024-25 annual report.

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More than 161,000 Vitalité patients are expected to be served by these 26 family health teams.

So far this year, Horizon Health Network has added four new family health teams, taking 4,400 patients off the NB Health Link waitlist. It plans to add another five teams – taking 5,600 more patients off the waitlist – by year’s end for a total of nine.

These numbers don’t capture the number of patients who will be served by these teams but aren’t on the provincial waitlist, nor the full number of existing teams.

“We have an existing 46 teams already in existence, so part of our work will be bolstering those 46 teams as well as starting these nine new teams,” Horizon president and CEO Margaret Melanson said following the regional health authority’s annual general meeting.

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Improved access to primary care is a top priority for the Canadian Medical Association, according to Burnell, whose organization’s membership is made up of the country’s physicians and medical students.

A veteran oncologist with the Saint John Regional Hospital, Burnell says primary care is critical to improving patient outcomes and decreasing emergency room visits.

“One of our No. 1 interests is trying to advocate for team-based care,” she said. “The other is to decrease the administrative burden that falls to physicians and primary care providers.”

Last fall, the Canadian Medical Association called for more provinces to make legislative changes prohibiting employers from requiring doctors’ notes for short-term absences.

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Both Nova Scotia and Quebec have banned the requirement of sick notes in certain short-term circumstances.

New Brunswick was studying the idea under the former Higgs Progressive Conservative government.

Younger docs want work-life balance

New Brunswick saw a slight decline last year in the number of patients with access to a doctor or nurse practitioner, according to a recent New Brunswick Health Council report.

Seventy-seven per cent of surveyed New Brunswickers reported they had a permanent primary care provider – a two per cent year-over-year drop, but the first year without a significant decline since 2017.

But the 2024 survey found no improvement in the timeliness of access to a primary care provider.

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Only one in three New Brunswickers reported they could get an appointment with their provider within five days, according to the report.

Health Minister John Dornan recently told Brunswick News he wasn’t surprised by the results.

“This report was generated from data polling that was collected in late 2024, after (the new Holt Liberal government) had been in office for a few months, well before the impact (of)… collaborative care clinics has taken hold,” Dornan said.

“If (the) report was (based on data up until) this moment in time, or as of six months in the future, I would be more concerned, but this gives us a very reliable base point.”

Both Vitalité and Horizon health networks have been establishing collaborative care clinics for years ahead of the Liberals coming into office last fall.

Burnell believes team-based practices are the way of the future for the next generation of doctors.

“The younger generation is interested in work-life balance, which is critically important so that everyone can bring their best into work today,” she said.

“I don’t think they want to necessarily run a small business, which if you’re in solo practice you’re running basically a small business, and that can become very challenging.”

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