Carleton North health-care clinic gets $2.1M to take 800 patients off waitlist
Dr. Stuart Lockhart says funding will pay for a team to share the workload
Another collaborative care clinic has officially launched in New Brunswick, advancing one of the key commitments made by the Holt government to increase access to primary health care.
The Carleton North clinic in Florenceville-Bristol will receive $2.1 million in 2025-2026 to hire more health-care professionals to work in a team with Dr. Stuart Lockhart.
Lockhart has been vocal about wanting to reimagine family medicine away from the traditional — and often overwhelmed — solo family doctor practice.
New hires will include nursing staff and administrative support for the two full-time family physicians and three part-time physicians already on site.
Health-care roles such as a diabetes educator, social workers, physiotherapists and respiratory therapists will also be added over the coming months.
It's expected this will enable the clinic to take 800 patients off the waitlist, in addition to the 1,360 patients already matched with a physician since the clinic opened two years ago.
"This is a good day," said Lockhart, who returned to New Brunswick from Saskatchewan to carry on the legacy of his father, uncle and grandfather, who also had a medical practice in the area.
Carleton North is the fourth collaborative care clinic announcement by the provincial government since the Liberals under Susan Holt were elected in November. It follows previous clinic announcements in Fredericton North, the Acadian Peninsula and Sackville.
"These are New Brunswickers' priorities," Holt said. "To get great access to health care close to home, in the communities they love, not being sent down the road an hour for another way to get their health-care needs met."
Holt said today's announcement brings the total financial commitment to established health-care teams to $30 million, including the $2.1 million for Carleton North.
Purpose-built in 2023 for a health-care team, the Carleton North Clinic received support from the community, including the Rotary Club of Florenceville, the McCain Foundation, and the Carleton North Foundation.
"If there was ever a case study for successful private-public partnerships, this would be it," said Lockhart.
Health Minister Dr. John Dornan said interest is quickly growing in the team approach to family medicine.
He said more than 60 groups of physicians in the province have expressed interest.
"I'd like to say this was our idea," Dornan said. "It wasn't. This was Stuart Lockhart's idea. And before we formed government he was already doing what we knew needed to be done."
Dornan said collaborative care will help the province attract desperately needed health-care providers by offering better work-life balance.
Because the clinic is staffed by a team, it removes the burden from one physician to attend to every health-care need and be on site for every visit.
The Horizon Health Network aims to have all 10,000 patients in the area assigned to the clinic's team by 2029.
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