By Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy

April’s federal budget announcement of $1.8 billion over five years to support Canadian research prompted a lot of us in the health research and innovation sector to hit the phones and fire up our networks.

The federal government has added its stake. Now it is time for partners to come together quickly to make things happen. No one does anything alone. The new federal funding will help, but government is just one player.  Community and industry partners and all levels of government must work together to strengthen the health care Canadians count on.

In Nova Scotia, we’ve seen the power of innovative partnerships in reducing barriers and in their ability to change outcomes. Nova Scotia’s Health Innovation Hub has been a catalyst for change facilitating a culture of innovation across the province. My colleague, Dr. Tara Sampalli, Senior Director has supported the implementation of many innovative solutions working alongside other members of my team, partners in the health system, private sector, patients and communities. Our success in promoting a culture of innovation is our comprehensive evaluation of practices and programs across settings, allowing us to learn in real time as a Learning Health System.

Some successful and innovative partnerships to highlight are:

• Virtual Care Nova Scotia provides virtual primary care service, including access to in-person care, diagnostic testing and imaging, and specialist referral. Through a partnership with the Pictou Antigonish Regional Library and the Aberdeen Health Foundation that brings this service to libraries across the province and enables equitable access to virtual care, over 165,000 virtual visits have been completed since 2021 and many emergency department visits have been diverted. The program was recognized last year with a Canadian College of Health Leaders award.
• Pharmacy Walk-In Clinics+ is a partnership between Nova Scotia Health and Sobeys/Lawtons Drugs where pharmacists and nurse practitioners work together to support pharmacists to work to full scopes of practice and enables enhanced access to care in communities. This service is now available in six locations and more than 30,000 visits have been completed since launch in February 2022.
• Care Coordination Centre is the first province-wide implementation of Command Centre in Canada to reduce delays in patient flow and helps care teams rapidly deploy solutions using real-time data. Since implementation, we have seen 12% reduction in average inpatient stay length at one of our hospital sites, 21% increase in average daily discharges and 25% increase in accuracy of discharge at our QEII site.
• Mobile primary care clinics bringing care closer to communities have seen over 30,000 visits to date, with some sites seeing over 200 visits per day.
• YourHealthNS, a digital navigation app, has enabled faster access to timely care options for Nova Scotians. Since launch in November of last year, nearly 250,000 Nova Scotians are using this app. NovaStudies Connect can be accessed through the app and has enabled equitable access to clinical trials.
• The Oncology Transformation Project provides a single access point to manage referrals, triage and treatment with information available in real time for the first time in a unique partnership with Varian and Siemen’s Healthineers company.
• Ring Rescue, an innovative ring removal kit developed by engineering students at Dalhousie University, is a compression device that reduces swelling long enough to slip off a ring. It’s now sold around the world to medical professionals, firefighters, jewellers and funeral homes.

As a nurse myself, I know how important it is to get the job done. When I worked in the ICU that meant thinking on your feet, innovating with what’s available and responding very quickly to what was needed. Later, as an academic, I had time to look at the big picture in needs-based approaches to health systems.  We need both kinds of thinking and more.

The new federal government investments are a gift to all of us. They can help us improve our ability to advance health innovations, retain talent, prepare for future health emergencies and much more. Our experience in Nova Scotia has taught us that to use such investments optimally. We cannot do it on our own; we need innovative and meaningful partnerships!

Dr. Gail Tomblin Murphy is vice president of research, innovation, discovery and innovation partnerships with Nova Scotia Health, a Member of Research Canada: An Alliance for Health Discovery.