Moncton (NB) (NBHC) – The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) is launching its second survey about primary health for New Brunswick citizens. Primary health care is usually the first point of contact with the health care system, and may include experiences with family doctors, emergency departments, specialists, after-hours clinics, community health centres, nurse practitioners, ambulance services and alternative practitioners. Primary health care also focuses on health promotion, illness and injury prevention, and the diagnosis and treatment of illness.
The NBHC needs to hear from citizens to see if any improvements have been made to primary health services from 3 years ago. The survey results will serve not only to improve the quality of our health care services for all New Brunswickers, but will also feed data into the NBHC’s newest tool, the Community Profiles. The information gathered in 2010 from over 14,000 respondents served as baseline data for the first edition of the profiles, available at nbhc.ca
It is imperative for the NBHC to collect the opinion of citizens when it comes to their experiences with primary health services. This allows for the inclusion of data regarding health services, including their use, along with obstacles, screening, prevention and satisfaction with services, but the data collected goes much further to paint a picture of New Brunswickers’ experience with primary health services: data is collected regarding health behaviours, like healthy eating, physical activity, and the use of alcohol and tobacco. Data regarding demographics, like population density, birth rate, and how many seniors and youth live in the community is also collected, among others.
The NBHC has been established as an independent organization that measures, monitors and evaluates New Brunswick’s health care system performance and population health, and that engages citizens in the improvement of health service quality.
For more information, please call the New Brunswick Health Council at 1-877-225-2521 or visit us at nbhc.ca
MEDIA CONTACT: Manon Arsenault, 506-869-6728, cell: 863-7263, Manon.arsenault@nbhc.ca