The provincial government and the Nova Scotia Health Authority unveiled plans to reshape Cape Breton's health system to better connect patients and their families to the care they need. The regional healthcare redevelopment plan includes:
- Expanding the ED at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney;
- Doubling the size of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Cancer Centre;
- Renovating and revitalizing the Glace Bay Hospital ED;
- Building community health centres and new long-term care facilities, in North Sydney and New Waterford, to replace the New Waterford Consolidated and Northside General hospitals;
- Launching a Community-Based Paramedic Program in CBRM where paramedics will do home visits and follow-up visits after hospital discharge; and
- Gradually moving surgeries and emergency services from New Waterford Consolidated and Northside General to Glace Bay and the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
Some doctors have welcomed the plan as a way to provide better overall care and help attract physicians. Dr. Paul MacDonald, department head for internal medicine at Cape Breton Regional Hospital, sees the move "as an opportunity, as a growth, as an investment in our future."
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