N.B. pharmacists seeing increased traffic since launch of new virtual care provider

New Brunswick pharmacists are seeing an increase in patients.

The association which represents New Brunswick pharmacists says there’s been an increase in the number of patients going to drug stores for help since the province launched a new virtual care provider two weeks ago.

Virtual Care NB went live on June 30 and the early reviews have been mixed, with some users reporting longer wait times and treatment delays when compared to the former provider eVisitNB.

Heidi Liston, CEO of the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association, says its membership has been “hearing lots of confusion from patients.”

“(Pharmacists are) seeing some increased traffic from the public who aren’t quite sure, necessarily, what door to go through,” said Liston. “They’re seeing an uptick in essentially individuals coming in for prescription renewals.”

Liston said the association has spoken to the provincial government since the launch of Virtual Care NB to share its observations, but wasn’t consulted in any meaningful way about the new provider prior to its launch.

“Co-designing is always ideal because you can out-of-the-gate have those pathways, plans and workflows enabled from the get-go. So that perhaps was a missed opportunity,” said Liston. “We’ve reached out and had some follow-up discussion around how pharmacists could help referrals and some of the barriers that would need to be removed for pharmacists to participate fully in that manner.”

Attempts for comment from the Department of Health and Minister Dr. John Dornan weren’t successful on Tuesday.

The province announced in February it would back away from the made-in-New Brunswick eVisitNB, which launched in January 2020. It ultimately signed a two-year, $26-million virtual health care contract with Luxemburg-based Foundever, which also operates New Brunswick’s Tele-Care 811 service.

Dornan previously said the health department was confident in Foundever’s ability to “provide high-quality virtual care services” and described the company as a “trusted health system partner” that has operated in New Brunswick for 28 years. The company operates Tele-Care 811 in the province.

Virtual Care NB is available daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through the following avenues:

• Virtual Care NB webpage
• MyHealthNB website and mobile app
• Tele-Care 811

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Sean Mott and The Canadian Press

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.