A New Brunswick health official is defending the province's rapid rollout of collaborative care clinics after an auditor general report found the expansion went ahead without the data to support it.
The audit, released last week, concluded that the province pushed new clinics into communities faster than its planning and evidence could justify — raising questions about whether locations were chosen for need or for speed.
The official pushed back, arguing that New Brunswickers could not afford to wait for perfect information while family doctor shortages left thousands without primary care. The clinics, which team doctors with nurse practitioners and other providers, are meant to take pressure off emergency rooms and walk-in clinics.
The exchange captures a familiar tension in Canadian health care: the urgency of access versus the discipline of planning. With the audit now public, the government will face pressure to show the clinic locations are delivering the access they promised.
