Our People

Employees (unionized and non-unionized): 24,722
Licensed physicians in Nova Scotia*: 2,865
   Physicians with a registered specialty (not family medicine): 1,634
   Physicians whose registered specialty is family medicine: 1,231
Medical students in Nova Scotia*: 351
Post Graduate Trainees*: 537
Learners: 5,500+
Volunteers**: 6,000
Affiliate research scientists: 100
Patient/Family Advisors: 263
*College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia
**please note: our volunteer programs and activities were suspended due to COVID-19. This number reflects our volunteers before COVID-19 activity.

Our Resources

Annual Budget: $2.4+ billion

Our Response to Covid-19

Number of visits to Primary Assessment Centres: 284,838
Number of COVID-19 lab tests completed: 419,842
Number of COVID-19 vaccines given by Nova Scotia Health: 68,212
Number of virtual care appointments: 68,354
Number of staff redeployed for COVID-19 response: 3,195

Our Places

Speciality Hospital: 1
Regional Hospitals: 9
Community and other locations (clinical, support and administrative): 135

Foundations and Auxiliaries

Foundations: 41
Auxiliaries: 33
Funding from Foundations and Auxiliaries to buy capital assets: $9.9+ million
Funding from Foundations and Auxiliaries for small equipment and programs: $4+ million

Community Health Boards

Community health boards: 37
Number of wellness funds supported through community health boards: 245
Monetary value of wellness funds granted: $722,663.52

Care Delivery

Beds (staffed and in operation): 3,471
Inpatient days: 975,950
Emergency visits: 496,492
Operating room surgeries: 60,613
Births (at Nova Scotia Health facilities): 3,385
Outpatient visits: 3,175,372
Diagnostic imaging exams: 871,266
Virtual care appointments: 68,354
Patient encounters supported by language interpretation: 14,528

Mental Health & Addictions

Mental Health and Addictions outpatient visits*: 374,969
Mental Health and Addictions clients: 51,784
Inpatient discharges: 3,918
*Includes Crisis response services in emergency departments across the province, Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team 24-hour telephone crisis line and mobile service and visits to Psychiatric Emergency Services at the QEII emergency department.

Continuing Care

Home care clients: 30,201
Hours of home support delivered to Continuing Care clients: 2,402,102
Number of in-home nursing visits: 1,083,826
People placed in long-term care facilities: 2,169

Primary Health Care

Number of people who found a primary care provider since Nov. 2016 (as of Mar. 31, 2021): 180,804
Number of people registered with Need a Family Practice (as of Mar. 31, 2021): 64,921
Number of collaborative family practice teams in Nova Scotia: 90
Number of chronic disease management and wellness teams: 41

Cancer Care

Number of Nova Scotians who had colon cancer prevented - they had no warning signs; pre-cancers were found and removed as a result of the colon cancer home screening test: 537
Number of cancer patients cared for in a cancer centre or community cancer clinic: 17,338
Number of public/patient advisors involved in cancer system improvement: 990

Public Health

Notifiable disease notifications (COVID-19 excluded): 3,801
COVID-19 cases reported (from April 1 to March 31, 2021): 1,488

Research, Innovation and Discovery

Clinical trials: 400+
Patients participating in research studies: 17,500+
Active research projects on Mar. 31, 2021: 1,487
New research projects initiated in 2020-21: 388
Rapid reviews completed in 2020-21: 115
Companies evaluated in the innovation launchpad in 2020-21: 163
Nursing Strategy Innovation Grants: 21
Affiliation agreements with education institutions: 104
Simulation learning sessions: 800+
Library Services – Patient education pamphlet downloads: 663,853