Arthritis Society statement on 2022-23 Nova Scotia Budget

Jone Mitchell 
Executive Director, Atlantic Region  

We were pleased to see a $5.7 billion investment in health care announced in yesterday’s Nova Scotia budget. We thank Finance Minister Allan McAllister for helping people living with arthritis who have been waiting in pain for too long.  

The investments in virtual care, recruitment of more health professionals, improving patient flow and addressing the surgical backlog at multiple health care centres and hospitals is welcome news. We know people were waiting too long for life-changing hip and knee replacements before the pandemic and it just made the wait worse. We’re hopeful the investments announced in the budget will reduce those wait times.  

The Arthritis Society is ready to assist and offer support as the government implements these plans.   

The budget included these key investments in health care: 

• $14.5 million more to make virtual care available to everyone on the Need a Family Practice Registry 

• $2 million to support efforts to recruit healthcare professionals 

• $3.2 million to add 200 new nursing seats 

• $10.2 million to support patient-flow initiatives at Nova Scotia Health 

• $17.5 million to perform 2,500 more surgeries, expand operating room hours and add 28 beds and staffing at Dartmouth General Hospital to support more surgeries 

• $2.1 million to address surgery backlogs due to COVID-19 at IWK Health Centre and to fund more cataract surgeries in the province 

• $597,000 to expand operating room capacity in Cape Breton 

Share