Health care 'fighting against the current of population growth,' says P.E.I.'s health minister

P.E.I.'s health minister took the brunt of questions at the legislature Wednesday as MLAs brought up concern after concern about the state of the Island's ailing health-care system.

More than two-thirds of the daily question period was taken up by questions to or answers from Health Minister Mark McLane.

Those topics ranged from psychiatric care to nurse recruitment and bonuses; physician hiring numbers and ER wait times to health-care leadership salaries; addictions, detox facilities and overdose prevention sites to wait times for services like Maple.

The minister didn't face many questions from opposition members the first week after the legislature resumed earlier in the month, but the second and third have thrust him onto the hot seat.

A consistent theme is why many Islanders don't have timely access to health care. McLane's response Wednesday was that the health-care system is trying to stay afloat in the face of a rising tide of population growth.

"Why were there 76 people in the emergency room last night if we've got all these hospitalists in the QEH working? I don't understand it, minister," Liberal MLA Gord McNeilly said.

"What are you doing to solve this issue for Islanders?"

"We have seen massive population growth. I've said it before … we do require a new physician about every 80 days just to keep up with that influx of people," McLane responded.

"We are fighting against the current of population growth, there's no doubt."

McNeilly followed up, saying there were more than 90,000 visits to emergency rooms last year — a number that's been increasing by the thousands each year. 

"Why is this number ballooning?" he asked. "What are you doing to get it under control?"

"I've got a pretty good stat for you," McLane said. "We went from 155,000 people on P.E.I. in 2019 to 175,000. Everything from grocery store visits to ER visits to trips to the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles] are going up, sir. That's pretty easy math to do."

System capacity growing, minister says

PC MLA Robin Croucher also had questions for his party's minister, saying one of his constituents has been trying to access virtual care through Maple for a month but keeps getting told the online queues are too long.

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The Maple platform lets people talk to doctors or nurse practitioners for things like prescription refills, requisitions for bloodwork or referrals for in-person care. The province pays the fees for Islanders who don't have a primary care provider.

"How widespread an issue is accessing Maple for Islanders?" Croucher asked.

McLane used the question to double down on population growth as one of the wider problems pulling Island health care under. He said the capacity of the system is "definitely increasing" and government needs to keep working on it. 

We do require a new physician about every 80 days just to keep up with that influx of people.— Mark McLane

"There's no doubt the utilization of Maple has almost doubled over the past year, with about 2,000 visits per month. We do recognize the timeout issue," he said.

"It does have its surges in the system. It's not a replacement to primary care. I want to emphasize that. It is just one of the doors into our health-care system."

'It's a factor of population growth'

But are there enough "doors" for the number of people trying to access services?

McLane said another five physicians are now helping with the backlogs on Maple, but added that those doctors are doing it as extra work while maintaining their regular workload with Health P.E.I.

In an interview with CBC News after question period, McLane said he sees parallels between ongoing housing and health care crunches.

"It's a factor of population growth," he said. "As our population continues to expand, every number that's associated with population growth, most likely, will trail along the same trends with regards to access."