Province left Vitalité millions short on primary care: Greens

Article content

Vitalité Health Network asked for more than double the $20 million allocated by the government to both Regional Health Authorities to expand collaborative practices in primary health care.

While questioning Health Minister Bruce Fitch in the legislature on Thursday morning about his department’s $3.8-billion spending plan for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, Green MLA Megan Mitton honed in on its $20 million primary care promise, which it says will “provide access to primary care services within five working days and provide an alternative to visiting emergency rooms.”

Mitton asked Fitch to provide a breakdown of how that money will be spent, and said she understands that Vitalité asked for $56 million.

Brunswick News asked Vitalité for comment, and received a statement from Patrick Parent, the network’s assistant chief executive officer. Parent is the former president and CEO of Alcool NB Liquor and Cannabis NB.

“Vitalité Health Network’s budget submission was indeed for $56 million to fully deploy its local collaborative family care teams which to date have reduced wait times in less than six months,” Parent said. 

“Furthermore, 7,400 orphan patients were onboarded into one of these new teams above and beyond pre-existing patient rosters. We have the ability to accelerate and fully deploy the model this fiscal year if the full amount is available. 

“In terms of the $20 million, depending on which portion would be allocated to Vitalité, it would allow to operationalize a quarter of the teams. To justify this initiative, a full return on investment analysis was provided to assist government in its funding allocation decision process based on value for dollar spent.

“This transformation will improve access in the community and reduce visits at the emergency room, which is a key component to eliminating the need for travel nurses.”

Mitton asked Fitch how the government can justify only spending $20 million for Vitalité and Horizon Health Network during a health “crisis” where many New Brunswickers “are on a waiting list to get on a waiting list” in an attempt to find a family physician. 

Fitch, who didn’t dispute Mitton’s numbers but said what Vitalité will get was close to what it asked for, implied there aren’t enough staff to justify the request. 

“When we talk about capacity in the system, there’s a number of different things … some can be physical – rooms, physical buildings – others can be that human health resource,” Fitch said. “And we could put $40 million in our budget, but if those human health resources weren’t there, you couldn’t spend that $40 million.

“So that’s where … we have to make difficult decisions, and we demand results. We demand (to know) how this is going to roll out, and how these savings are going to manifest.”

While not naming them directly, Fitch said he’d be happy to talk about the “various options that are available to people.” That was a reference to virtual care like eVisitNB and Telecare 811, and the growing number of NB Health Link clinics around the province.

“This $20 million isn’t the only investment that’s being made in primary care,” Fitch added. “There’s significant (other) investments throughout the budget that will again alleviate some of the pressures.”

Mitton wasn’t buying it.

“Vitalité showed that they are using their resources to show results,” she said. “They have improved many things with their plan. But they were asking for $56 million, I believe. They said they had human resources for many things that they wanted to do. They wanted to support the human resources that they already had.”

On Fitch’s comments about a lack of human resources, Mitton said “that is not the case with Vitalité.”

“I do not accept this answer.”