So much of health care is about numbers, and mental health care is no exception. Numbers of patients. Wait times. Expenditures. Here are a few of the numbers about mental health care in Nova Scotia and PEI.
Money matters
2016-17 budget for community-based counseling and outpatient programs in Prince Edward Island: $10.8 million
Budget for mental health at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown in 2016-17: $3.8 million
At the Prince County Hospital: $2 million
At the Hillsborough Hospital: $12.6 million
Amount of Hillsborough budget spent on nursing/inpatient care: $7.9 million
Amount spent on property maintenance: $961,964
Total billed in 2015-2016 to PEI health insurance by general practitioners (fee for service only), for mental health related services: $794,271
By psychiatrists: $2.8 million
Amount of that billed by psychotherapists that was for psychotherapy: $2.2 million
Amount of that for electroconvulsive therapy: $9,900
Amount billed by Nova Scotia general practitioners to the provincial medical services insurance plan for mental health services, in 2015-16: $18.7 million*
By pediatricians: $2.5 million*
By psychiatrists: $42 million
The recommended hourly fee for psychologists in private practice in Nova Scotia: $170
Visits to emergency for mental health
Total number of emergency department visits in the Eastern zone (including Antigonish and Cape Breton) of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, 2012-2016, with mental health as the presenting complaint: 10,303**
In the western zone (Annapolis Valley, South Shore, Yarmouth): 11,622**
In the northern zone (Colchester, Cumberland, Pictou): 9,196**
In the central zone (Halifax and West Hants): 22,114**
Total visits: 53,235
Number of those who were treated and released: 43,034
Number of those admitted to a hospital bed from the emergency dept: 10,201
Percentage of emergency department visits (for which the presenting complaint was recorded) that were for mental health concerns, 2012-2016, Halifax Infirmary site QEII: 5
At the Cape Breton Regional Hospital: 5
Other hospitals in Nova Scotia: 1 to 3 percent
Number of visits to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown for mental health reasons, in 2012: 2,511
Number of those admitted: 727 (29%)
In 2016: 2,258 visits and 564 admitted (25%)
At the Kings County Memorial Hospital, in 2012: 813 visits and 21 admitted (2.6%)
2016: 371 visits and 44 admitted (11.9%)
At the Prince County Hospital, in 2012: 879 visits, 209 admitted (24%)
2016: 840 visits, 242 admitted (29%)
At the Western Hospital, in 2012: 741 visits, 31 admitted (4.2%)
2016: 224 visits, 17 admitted (7.6%)
Wait times
Time it took to serve 90 percent of adults triaged as urgent to see a community mental health psychiatrist, in the third quarter of 2015-16, in PEI: 479 days
Semi-urgent: 301.5 days
Others: 112 days
For youth: Urgent, 107.5 days, semi-urgent 386.5 days
Time it took to serve 90 percent of adults urgently waiting for adult community mental health services in PEI, in the same quarter: 40 days
Semi-urgent: 175 days
Others: 165 days
For youth: Urgent 45 days, semi-urgent 213 days, others 288 days
The number of hours spent in psychiatric and general hospitals in Nova Scotia, by people who were discharged in 2014: 124,280
That number of hours expressed in years: 340
In PEI: 24,144 days or 66 years
The shortest waiting time for adult community mental health services at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital from July to September 2016: 0 days
The longest: 581 days
Time it took to serve 90 percent of those waiting: 325 days
Shortest waiting time at the Bayer’s Road Centre in Halifax: 1 day
The longest: 220 days
90 percent served in: 107 days
*Best estimate of Dept of Health and Wellness. Likely higher due to billings using other codes.
**Presenting complaint not recorded for 386,566 emergency department visits.
Sources: Health PEI, Nova Scotia Health Authority, N.S. Dept. of Health and Wellness, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia.
