Moncton, NB – June 23, 2025 – The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) released a new update on the performance of the health system related to primary care. The article points to the ongoing challenges in attachment to a primary care provider, timely access to care, and citizens’ experiences with primary care services. The findings also identify inequities in attachment and care experience among certain demographic groups across the province.
“At the New Brunswick Health Council, we are committed to providing citizens with reliable information on the performance of the health system,” said Stéphane Robichaud, CEO of the NBHC. “While significant efforts are underway to strengthen primary care in New Brunswick, the results show that many citizens continue to face challenges accessing timely care and having a consistent primary care provider.”
Key Observations from the 2025 Primary Care Survey include:
- 73% of New Brunswickers reported having a primary care provider (PCP), a decline from 2024
- Since 2022, only 1 in 3 citizens reported being able to get an appointment with their primary care provider within five days.
- Citizens’ experiences with primary care have not improved over the past three years.
- Gaps in care remain, with some demographic groups reporting a lower percentage of attachment to and care experience with their primary care provider
“Given the ongoing investments and changes taking place in primary care, it is essential to have consistent, standardized, and reliable measures to monitor progress across the health system,” added Stéphane Robichaud. “By continuing to monitor indicators such as attachment, access, and citizens’ experiences with care, we can better assess whether these efforts are leading to improvements for New Brunswickers.”
Check out the full article: New Brunswick Primary Care in 2025: Access, Experience and Equity
For interview requests, please contact:
Nay O’Leary
Executive Director, Citizen Engagement
Phone: 506-377-7689
Email: Nay.Oleary@nbhc.ca
Interpretation Notes
What the results represent: These survey results reflect adults aged 18 and over who were reached through the survey’s telephone sample. They should be interpreted as estimates for that covered population.
Note on how we compare numbers: We compare numbers using confidence intervals. Simply put, these show a range where the true value is likely to be. If the ranges for two numbers do not overlap, we consider the numbers to be meaningfully different, either higher or lower.
Extrapolating numbers from percentages: We caution against extrapolating primary care survey results to the general population (for example calculating the number of citizens attached, or the number of citizens not attached from these percentages), because it would require assuming that people not represented in the survey (citizens less than 18 years old or citizens who don’t have an NB personal phone number or landline) have the same results than those represented.