- Most Atlantic Canadians provide negative perceptions of the overall quality of health care currently available in their respective provinces
- However, personal experiences with healthcare are more positive, and Atlantic Canadians are far less critical when considering satisfaction with the quality of health care services individuals have received over the past year.
- Atlantic Canadians attribute their dissatisfaction to issues relating to accessing health care
HALIFAX, October 4, 2022:
Atlantic Canadians’ assessment of the quality of healthcare in their respective provinces, as well as their personal satisfaction with the quality of care received, have reached record lows, according to Narrative Research’s recent survey of Atlantic Canadians.
When asked to rate the overall quality of health care currently available in their province, just fourteen percent of Atlantic Canadians think that the overall quality is excellent/good, while the vast majority (85%) consider it to be only fair/poor. Indeed, six in ten (61%) criticize the quality as poor. Negative perceptions (ratings of fair or poor) are prevalent across all four Atlantic Canadian provinces, and have notably increased in all four provinces over the past two years.
Personal experiences, however, reveal a discrepancy between overall perceptions of health care and the actual quality of health care services received in the past 12 months. Indeed, personal satisfaction among Atlantic Canadians regarding health care services they have received over the past year is notably more positive than the overall assessment of health care in general, but nonetheless, at lowest recorded levels. Just over half of Atlantic Canadians (54%) are now satisfied with care they have received in the past 12 months, while four in ten express some level of dissatisfaction. Across the four provinces, PEI residents are the most satisfied with the health care service they have received (62%), followed by NS (56%), NB (53%), and lastly NL (49%).
When asked why they are dissatisfied with the quality of provincial health care received over the past 12 months, results highlight challenges relating to access, rather than the actual quality of care provided. Four in ten Atlantic Canadians (38%) mention each of difficulty getting appointments with their family doctor/primary care provider or delayed appointments/long wait times (36%). Three in ten express dissatisfaction either due to a lack of family doctor/health care provider (29%) or delayed treatment (28%).
“Findings underscore the challenges Atlantic Canadians are facing in accessing health care,” said Margaret Brigley, CEO & Partner of Narrative Research. “Atlantic Canadians are far less critical of the actual care they receive once they get it. But with health care staff shortages throughout the region, accessing care is clearly problematic – whether it be access to primary care, tests, or emergency care. Access is unmistakably the root of the problem.”
These results are part of Narrative Research’s Atlantic Quarterly®, an independent, quarterly telephone survey of Atlantic Canadians, and are based on a sample of 1,500 adult Atlantic Canadians, conducted from August 3-31, 2022, with overall results accurate to within ± 2.5 percentage points, 95 out of 100 times.
Narrative Research, www.narrativeresearch.ca, is one of Canada’s leading public opinion and market research companies. Non-partisan, Narrative Research provides clients with state-of-the-art research and strategic consulting services. Follow us on Twitter at @EveryNarrative.
For more information, please contact:
Margaret Brigley, CEO & Partner at 902.222.7066, mbrigley@narrativeresearch.ca
OR
Margaret Chapman, COO & Partner at 902.222.4048, mchapman@narrativeresearch.ca
