Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative Party is proposing a plan to improve access to mental health and addictions care.
“I’ve been surprised how two-tiered mental health and addictions has become,” said John Lohr, the PC critic for mental health and addictions at a press briefing Wednesday. “Many Nova Scotians don’t have timely access and can’t afford the private side of mental health care.”
The plan, which the PCs estimate will cost over $102 million, includes introducing a legislation that will allow private mental health practitioners to take on patients who don’t have private health insurance and bill the province for the service.
“Access to care should never be exclusive to those who afford it,” Tim Houston, the party’s leader, said at the briefing.
The PCs also hope to establish billing rates for each category within the mental health profession. This includes licensed professionals such as registered psychologists, registered social workers, and registered counselling therapists.
A new department
Houston said the PC plan requires establishing a separate department for mental health and addictions. He added that the current system, where the department of health oversees mental health and addictions services, is not working.
“If it was, we wouldn’t see 300-day waitlists,” he said. “Mental health and addictions are falling through the cracks of an already fractured health-care system.”
A separate department with a dedicated minister would be a better advocate for universal access, he said.
The plan has no specific recommendations on how the department would address the barriers caused by the social determinants of health, or how care could be improved for people of colour, Indigenous, and Black people who are disproportionately affected by mental health issues.
But Houston said he will “make sure that every single Nova Scotian has access to the care they need.”
The plan also includes:
- A 24/7 mental-telehealth counselling service
- A 988 mental health crisis line separate from 911
- Offering school teachers and a wide variety of health-care professionals the opportunity to get mental-health training and certification.
