New Brunswick·NewThe provincial government has released a strategy with six priorities for improving the province’s health-care system. Health Minister John Dornan says new collaborative-care clinics are a critical part of making sure everyone has timely access to a doctor and other health-care professionals. John Dornan and Premier Susan Holt unveil a 5-year health-care plan in Saint JohnMark Leger · CBC News · Posted: Oct 08, 2025 4:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 18 minutes agoHealth Minister John Dornan says his first priority is making sure all New Brunswickers have a primary-care physician. (Graham Thompson/CBC)The New Brunswick government released a strategy with six priorities for improving the province’s health-care system Wednesday, but Health Minister John Dornan said one in particular stands out for him.That’s making sure everyone in the province has a family doctor.“If everybody in New Brunswick had access to primary care so that they stayed well, did not get sick, did not need to go to the hospitals, I think we will have accomplished what I want to do in the time that I work with this government,” Dornan said at the news event in Saint John.The Holt government has made the establishment of collaborative-care clinics a centrepiece of this effort.It has established six of them to date, with a target of adding at least four more by the end of the year. By 2028, the government has promised to have at least 30 collaborative-care clinics in place across the province.WATCH | Plan had input from health-care workers, Holt says:Premier Susan Holt unveils a 5-year health-care plan for New BrunswickThe Liberal government’s extensive plan to improve the province’s health-care system includes commitments ranging from better cancer screening to a 50-bed treatment facility. Depending on the needs of the community where the clinic is located, there will be a mix of health-care professionals like doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and mental health specialists.Currently, only 77 per cent of New Brunswickers have a primary-care provider. In the state of the province address that outlined the Holt government’s priorities back in January, Dornan said the goal was to 79 per cent by the end of this year and 85 per cent by 2028.Collaborative-care clinics making a difference?Dornan, a doctor and former CEO of the Horizon Health Network, said provincial officials don’t yet have data to measure their efforts to date, but he is hearing that the new clinics are making a difference.“People are getting attached to family doctors,” Dornan said. “We get telephone calls, emails —people that are waiting, but also people that are being attached — and they’re quite thankful. People have been on the waiting list for years and now they’re being picked up by some of the clinics that we’ve announced. “This is not all down the road. It’s occurring today.”The six priority areas unveiled on Wednesday at the Saint John Regional Hospital were primary care, workforce, seniors, urgent care, mental health and addictions, and connected services.Premier Susan Holt says the new five-year health plan is about people receiving effective, timely care. (Graham Thompson/CBC)Premier Susan Holt said the elements of the five-year plan, Caring for New Brunswick, are all about patients being able to receive effective, timely care.“All of these pieces are focused on making sure people are getting the right care at the right place, from the right person at the right time,” Holt said.Seniors next priority for ministerDornan said his next-highest priority is “respectful care” for seniors. The wait list for a New Brunswick nursing home bed is currently more than 1,000, with hundreds of seniors being treated in acute-care beds in hospitals who could be in long-term care homes in their communities if room were available there.He said the priorities for senior care involve better community health support, not just moving seniors with significant care needs into nursing homes. It’s not about just getting people out of hospitals; it’s keeping them in the community, giving them better tools, better standardizations of care.- Health Minister John Dornan“It’s not about just getting people out of hospitals; it’s keeping them in the community, giving them better tools, better standardizations of care,” he said.Holt said the province continues to expand support services for seniors living independently. That includes measures ranging from in-person social visits to help accessing government programs and services.“We’re seeing some good progress with Nursing Home Without Walls, and now that we’re moving into improvements in at-home care and long-term care, I think that New Brunswickers will see incremental improvements in the system,” the premier said.Holt identified the sixth priority, connected care, as one that’s “near and dear to my heart.”According to the Department of Health, only 50 per cent of clinicians in the province are using an electronic medical record system, something that Holt said needs to be addressed if patients are to receive integrated, effective care.Initiatives like MyHealthNB also empower patients by giving them digital access to their health records, she said. Holt said it has to be “a priority to ensure that all of the touch points that a New Brunswicker would experience in their care are connected behind the scenes digitally, so that record of your care, that view of how you’re doing, is accessible to a health-care professional who’s serving you.”ABOUT THE AUTHORMark Leger is a reporter and producer based in Saint John. Send him story ideas to: mark.leger@cbc.ca
Health minister says top priority is getting every New Brunswicker a family doctor
