NS doctor numbers

The head of the health authority is suggesting the McNeil government won’t meet its campaign promise to provide everyone with a family doctor by the end of its current mandate.

Health authority C-E-O Janet Knox says it’ll take five years to complete development of a new care model that will ensure everyone has access to a physician, not the end of the Liberals first mandate as promised.

Knox says recruiting efforts continue to replace doctors who retire or move away but it will take time to establish multi-team practices in areas where there are doctor shortages.