Patient registry not always a first-come, first-serve wait list, Health P.E.I. clarifies [Video]

The person who has been on P.E.I.’s patient registry the longest won’t necessarily be the next to get a family doctor, Health P.E.I. has confirmed. 

The health authority clarified the process after hearing from OmbudsPEI.

Ombudsperson Sandy Hermiston said her office was contacted by a concerned citizen who felt family doctors or nurse practitioners were taking on new patients who had not been on the registry as long as others in the same community.

That has always been the case, but Hermiston felt there should be more transparency about the process.

“We just didn’t think it was clear that both family doctors and nurse practitioners have the ability to choose how they accept new patients so they don’t have to go to the registry when they have room for new patients, and quite rightly so,” she said.