Liberal health plan calls for mental health walk-in clinics, more doctor recruitment support

A Liberal government wouldrevamp doctor recruitment, create walk-in mental health clinics and increase the number of nurses and midwives in Nova Scotiaif re-elected, Leader Iain Rankin said Tuesday as he released his party's health-care platform.

The Liberals are proposing $131.6 million in new health-related spending over four years. That's on top of $510 million that was added to the Health Department by the Liberals in the spring budget and $152.6 million previously announced to create 500 new long-term care beds and renovate 24 long-term care homes across the province.

"Our spending is targeted and effective," Rankin said in Halifax. "I think it's about finding the right programs."

Health Department to recruitdoctors

On doctor recruitment and retention, the Liberals would take responsibility for that away from the provincial health authority and move it back into the Health Department, where a new office of physician recruitment and retention would have a $5-million annual budget to co-ordinate efforts.

The office wouldemploy what amounts to headhunters who specialize in doctor recruitment, said Rankin.

"They will be scouting the physicians who will want to stay and build careers in Nova Scotia [with] their families," he said.

The Liberals are also promising to increase an existing $200,000 fund for community-based recruiting to $1 million a year. Rankin said there would be no conflict between the two efforts and the local interests would be at the front of recruitment efforts.

"It's a challenge across the country, so what we're doing is we're putting more resources in and we're actually enabling communities to recruit more," he said.

More nurses and midwives

While work continues to attract and retain doctors, the Liberals are promising to spend $6 million to get virtual health-care access for the almost 70,000 people on the wait list for a family doctor.

Rankin said virtual care is here to stay in Nova Scotia, although the details of how it will look in the long term are still in the works.

Along with pursuing more doctors, the Liberals also have plans to attract other health-care professionals.

The party would add six more seats to the nurse practitioner program at Dalhousie University and 270 new licensed practical nurse seats at the Nova Scotia Community College.

Thirty seats at the collegewould be reserved for continuing care assistants who want to upgrade.Their tuition for the two-year program would be waived in exchange for a five-year return-of-service agreement to work in long-term care.

There's also a promise of $1.75 million a year to increase the number of midwives in the province to 24 from 16.

New mental health spending

On mental health, Rankin said his party would spend $4 million a year on eight new mental health walk-in clinicsto be situated near regional hospitals. He said staffing for the sites would be addressed through a combination of expanded seats at universities and colleges, as well as recruiting efforts targeting nurses and doctors.

While the NDPispledging to spend 10 per cent of the health budget on mental health and addictions support, as recommended by the World Health Organization, and Tory Leader Tim Houston has said he'll spend what it takes to ensure everyone who needs it has access to mental-health supports, the Liberals' plan is less financially ambitious.

But Rankin downplayed the difference, saying what matters more is how the money is spent.

"It shouldn't be about how much we can spend on it, it should be about outcomes, and we're focusing on ensuring that we improve outcomes for Nova Scotians," he said.

"There is more to just trying to spend more money than another party to win an election."

With the Liberals having released their plan, all three major parties now have health platforms for the public to consider.

While the NDP plan, includedas part of the party's 10-year "vision document,"is not fully costed, party officials say those details will come later in the campaign.

The Tories, meanwhile, are promising $430 million in new health-related spending in the first year if the party forms government.