A tear-filled plea from a woman who believes her cancer was missed for years because she didn鈥檛 have a family doctor is proof of a system 鈥渋n crisis,鈥 a Nova Scotia doctor says. The province says it鈥檚 working on it.
Inez Rudderham said in a video now viewed more than 2.6 million times online that her stage 3 rectal cancer went undiagnosed for two years, despite having made three visits to emergency rooms.
She blamed the government and directly challenged Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil in the video.
鈥淚 dare you to take a meeting with me and explain to me and look into my eyes and tell me that there is no health care crisis in my province of Nova Scotia,鈥 Rudderman says in the video. 鈥淚 dare you.鈥
On Friday, Dr. Gary Ernest from the group Doctors Nova Scotia, told CTV Atlantic that the video is evidence of a failing system. He said the province is short about 200 family doctors and specialists.
鈥淲hen you have 100,000 people who can鈥檛 get access to a family physician, that means they can鈥檛 get access to the usual type of care that they would expect from a family doctor鈥檚 office,鈥 he said.
鈥淗opefully it will mobilize the public to put more pressure on the department of health to make decisions and acknowledge that there is a crisis,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f these problems are not dealt with, it will only get worse.鈥
Rudderham is not the only one claiming that difficulty accessing primary care delayed a cancer diagnosis. Donna Benedict, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, said that鈥檚 what happened to her.
鈥淏y the time I was actually in to see a specialist in Halifax, I was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer. I had radical surgery, radiation, chemo, did well with all of that ... until 2017.鈥
That year, Benedict was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic cancer in both lungs, she says.
Benedict had a family physician, but in her case believes it took too long to get an appointment with a cancer doctor.
鈥淭here are so many of us out there,鈥 she said.
According to the Canadian Institutes for Health Information, P.E.I. had the lowest number of physicians in 2016, at 187 per 100,000 people. Nova Scotia actually had the highest number at 258 per 100,000.
However, conducted in 11 wealthy countries and 10 Canadian provinces, found that Canadian patients report high wait times and dissatisfaction in every province.
Canadians were the fourth most likely to say they don鈥檛 have a regular doctor (15 per cent), behind Sweden (56.4 per cent), the United States (20.8 per cent) and the United Kingdom (18.4 per cent). France topped the list with only 0.6 per cent saying they don鈥檛 have a family doctor.
Within Canada, those surveyed in Quebec (24.9 per cent) and Saskatchewan (20.7 per cent) were most likely to say they didn鈥檛 have a regular doctor while those in Ontario (7.5 per cent) and P.E.I. (7.9 per cent) were least likely. Nova Scotia was in the middle of the pack at 14.1 per cent.
People in the United States were the most likely to rate 鈥渢he overall quality of medical care鈥 as 鈥減oor鈥 (15 per cent), followed by Quebec (10 per cent) and Saskatchewan (9.3 per cent).
Canadians also reported the longest waits to see a doctor, not including emergency room visits, (13.2 per cent reporting two weeks or longer) followed by the U.S. (9.4 per cent) and Sweden (8.6 per cent).
Nova Scotia鈥檚 Health Minister Randy Delorey says that the province is working on addressing the shortage. He said that the number of Nova Scotians registered as looking for primary care has fallen in four of the past months.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been making these initiatives and investments over the last couple years,鈥 he said.
The health authority confirmed to CTV Atlantic that it had reached out to Rudderham. It is not clear whether she spoke with the premier.