Province plans to enhance N.S. family doctor registry

Nova Scotia’s doctor waitlist is getting an update.

New reporting and intake processes will be established with the Need a Family Practice registry by Nova Scotia Health for patients looking to get a family doctor.

According to a news release last week from Nova Scotia Health, improvements will include “regular validation and check-ins” and “improvements to the health questionnaire” for people registering on the waitlist. 

The Need a Family Practice registry was first created in 2016 to obtain data about the number of people in Nova Scotia who require a family doctor. In June 2024 there were 160,234 patients on the registry.

As of last month, Nova Scotia Health Authority reported 66,768 patients still on the waitlist. The waitlist information was regularly published online until a year ago, when it was taken offline. 

Beck Scoffield, 25, says she is “definitely frustrated” that she is still on the waitlist for the family practice registry. She joined the list two years ago and hasn’t heard anything from Nova Scotia Health. She deals with chronic health issues, including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and recurring allergies. She was initially dissuaded from joining the registry after friends told her the wait time to get a doctor would be up to six years. 

“There are people who have more urgent things that they need consistent care for, who aren’t presently able to get that as easily as I think that they should be able to. I love our free health-care system and everything, but it’s just really hard when you know that you’re gonna have to wait forever in order to be prioritized when you’re dealing with health issues that are very hard to deal with,” said Scoffield. 

Claire Mori, 28, got the news they are off the waitlist last month, over four years after registering in August 2021. They dealt with several health issues while on the waitlist, including a neck cyst that appeared in January 2025 and got infected following surgery. 

“There’s a lot of disconnect between systems and between hospitals. And if you don’t have a family doctor to tie that all together, your referrals and your results are just being sent to whatever random doctor sees you that day. So there’s no continuity of care,” said Mori.

Doctors Nova Scotia president Shelly McNeil backs the changes to the registry process.

“We feel strongly that every Nova Scotian deserves access to a family doctor. People who are attached to family doctors, of course, have the advantage of having a long-term relationship with someone who knows them, knows their health history, knows their family and social circumstances,” said McNeil.

According to the Nova Scotia Health Authority, from April 2024 to March 2025, 89 family physicians were hired and 66 left, for a net gain of 23.

McNeil wants to see this number continue to grow.

“I think there’s lots more work to be done, given the number of people on the list. We at Doctors Nova Scotia would advocate for continued recruitment, efforts to recruit and retain more doctors in the province, because it’s not just about attachment. It’s also about access to care,” said McNeil.

Claire Mori is looking forward to continuing the process of getting their first family doctor appointment later in February.

“My focus is more just on having the time and space to address chronic issues that the ER was never quite the right forum for. I’m looking forward to addressing the things that have been in the background, but deserve to be addressed finally,” said Mori.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority is expected to release a report on updated waitlist data in April.