Nova Scotia Health

There are many options for accessing primary healthcare while you are on the Registry:

• VirtualCareNS: Provides virtual primary healthcare access to Nova Scotians with mild health concerns. For individuals on the Need a Family Practice Registry, this includes access to a provider who can prescribe medications, order tests, and refer you to specialists and in-person care. To learn more and register, visit virtualcarens.ca. Please note that if you have not yet received your Nova Scotia health card, you are not eligible to use VirtualCareNS. If you have questions about your Nova Scotia health card, please contact MSI at 1-800-563-8880.
• Primary Care Clinics: Provide in-person primary healthcare for people on the Need a Family Practice Registry with mild health concerns. For more information, please click here.
• Mobile Primary Care Clinics: Provide in-person primary healthcare to all Nova Scotians with mild health concerns. For more information, please click here.
• Urgent Treatment Centres: Provide care to any Nova Scotian with unexpected but non-life-threatening health concerns. For more information, please click here.
• Community Pharmacy Primary Care Clinics: Provide non-emergency primary healthcare from a pharmacist to individuals with a valid Nova Scotia health card, including assessment and prescribing for strep throat (over age 3), pink eye, UTIs, chronic disease management, (diabetes, asthma, COPD), prescription renewals for all medications, and more. For more information, please click here.
• Community Pharmacies: Your local pharmacy can renew some prescriptions, assess, and prescribe for some minor ailments, and assist with other basic health concerns. To find a pharmacy near you, please click here.
• 811: Speak with a registered nurse for health care advice, 24 hours a day.
• YourHealthNS: To learn more about healthcare services that are available to you, download the YourHealthNS app. YourHealthNS is a new app that helps you navigate health information, book services and discover care options, easier and faster than ever before, right from your phone or computer. You can download the YourHealthNS app through the Apple Store, Google Store, or by visiting yourhealthns.ca.

For more information about the health care services available in your area, please visit: https://www.nshealth.ca/wheretogoforhealthcare.

For information about VirtualCareNS and how to register, please visit virtualcarens.ca.

You can sign up family members either by clicking the Register button on this page or by calling 811. Please have their information ready so you can complete the application on their behalf.

When Nova Scotia Health is contacted by a primary care practice that is accepting new patients, we send them the list of people on the Registry for that community. The practice will accept new patients from the Registry based on their capacity at that time.

Therefore, we are unfortunately unable to confirm where you are on the Registry, nor when you will find a primary care provider.

To improve access to care, Nova Scotia Health is continually working to recruit family doctors and other health care professionals. We are also working to create more and strengthen existing collaborative family practice teams to enhance access to primary healthcare for Nova Scotians.

Nova Scotia Health encourages clinics to contact us when they are able to accept new patients. Primary care providers are independent health care providers who determine how and when they accept new patients into their practice. This can be from the registry, or another method that works best for their practice (e.g. their own wait list, advertisements, family members of existing patients, etc.).

Our immediate focus is helping those Nova Scotians without a primary care provider (family doctor or nurse practitioner) to get access to primary healthcare. Given the high demand for this service, we are asking that people only add their name to the Registry if they do not have a primary care provider or their provider is retiring or closing their practice in the near future.

Yes. If you are unable to access your primary care provider because you have moved, please register online, or by calling 811.

Yes. You can start your registration by calling 811. Your registration is not complete until a Nova Scotia health card number is obtained from MSI. Once you receive your health card number from MSI, please call 811 again to complete your registration for a family practice.

Please note that if you have not yet received your Nova Scotia health card, you are not eligible to use VirtualCareNS. If you have questions about your Nova Scotia health card, please contact MSI at 1-800-563-8880.

No, we are unable to offer registration in multiple communities. You can add your name to the registry using any one address (such as your home or workplace), depending on which location may be more convenient for accessing a family practice (e.g. when you work in one community and live in another).

Public Health offers various immunization services across Nova Scotia for those who are not able to access them through a family practice. You will need to call your local Public Health office to register for immunization services. Once you are assisted with finding a family practice, you can provide your personal immunization record (yellow card) to your provider to ensure they have your full immunization history.

Nurse practitioners are registered nurses with advanced knowledge and education in primary health care. A nurse practitioner can diagnose and treat health issues, order and interpret medical tests, prescribe medications, perform exams and procedures, provide health screening clinics, teach patients how to manage ongoing health conditions and offer healthy lifestyle education, and refer patients to a specialist or other health care provider. Click here for more information