4,200 Nova Scotians removed from GP waiting list

Nova Scotia Health says 4,200 people have been removed from the register of general practitioners following a recent review.

The assessment found that nearly all of those people had invalid health cards, spokesperson Brendan Elliott said in an email to CBC News.

Those people would have received an email notifying them of the change. Elliott said there are a number of reasons why a health card might be considered invalid, but gave no examples.

But he said as long as people can fix their health card issues, they won’t lose their spot on the list.

The number of Nova Scotians on the physician waiting list was 148,431 as of June 1, according to a county dashboard. This represents 15 percent of the population.

Elliott said anyone with an expired health card should contact MSI to have it renewed and then call 811 to have their profile updated on the registry.

Some people removed had valid health cards

But some — about one to two percent, according to Elliott — of the people who received an email did have valid health cards.

“If someone with a valid Nova Scotia health card has been accidentally removed, they can call 811 to re-register, and we’ll make sure their place on the list is maintained,” Elliott said.