Province Funds Design of Digby Primary Care Clinic
The province is investing $66,000 to design a new primary health care clinic in Digby to help provide better access to care for local residents.
Maureen MacDonald, Minister of Health and Wellness, made the announcement today, Dec. 5, as part of the province's new capital plan to make life better for families.
"Having better access to family doctors and other health care providers is important to people in Digby, and in delivering better care sooner to families," said Ms. MacDonald. "This first step towards a modern clinic close to the Digby General Hospital will help with efforts to recruit and keep providers, ultimately providing better access to residents and helping with efforts to staff the ER 24/7."
Through the support of community partners, including the Digby and Area Health Services Charitable Foundation and Town of Digby, the community will provide three quarters of the total project cost.
"We believe that the presence of a turn-key, modern collaborative practice medical centre plays a major role in physician recruitment success," said Murray Marshall, chair, Digby and Area Health Services Charitable Foundation.
"We will continue our support of other recruitment initiatives as we assist with building a long-term sustainable solution to meeting the health care needs of our community."
"The commitment of the community of Digby made today's announcement possible," said Ms. MacDonald. "I want to congratulate the community, hospital foundation, town and other partners for their hard work and continued support of this project."
Known as the Digby and Area Health Services Centre, the clinic will be adjacent to Digby General Hospital. This will offer quick access for clinic patients and health-care providers to the emergency department and other hospital services. Details of the new clinic, including timelines, will be determined after this phase.
"The new clinic will provide space for various health professionals to work in partnership with physicians to provide comprehensive care to our patients," said Dr. John Black, deputy chief of medical staff, South West Health.
The province's new capital plan will invest millions of dollars to make life better for families. It will create good jobs, grow the economy and provide better health care for all Nova Scotians. The capital plan invests in projects that are most important to Nova Scotians like emergency rooms, schools, roads and hospital equipment.