Nova Scotia's need-a-family-practice registry hits 2-year low

The number of people in Nova Scotia looking for a family doctor is the lowest it's been in two years.

The provincial health authority released new numbers on Thursday that show 119,670 people were on the need-a-family-practice registry as of Nov. 27. That's down from 132,166 people, a number the health authority posted online without notice on Nov. 4 during the recent provincial election.

The last time the registry size was this low was Nov. 1, 2022, when it had 120,409 people.

In a news release Thursday, the health authority said 10,477 people were attached to a family practice in November.

"A further 2,019 people were removed as a result of ongoing validation work that confirmed they have a provider," the release said. The current registry size represents 11.3 per cent of the provincial population.

The health authority's statement said another update would come in early January.

The province has an online dashboard that tracks a variety of health-care metrics, but it had not been updated to reflect the new numbers as of Thursday afternoon.

That page has not been updated since June, when it was announced there would be a pause so staff could validate the numbers to ensure they accurately reflect the level of need. Premier Tim Houston expressed concern in March that the list could be outdated. At the time, he mused about its future usefulness.