NB health care gets a "C" grade

MONCTON, NB - The New Brunswick Health Council is out with it's first annual report card for the province's health care system.

Overall, it gives New Brunswick's system a "C" average.

Council CEO Stephane Robichaud says there are areas where the province is doing really well and others where it's getting a failing grade.

He says New Brunswick gets top marks when it comes to things like wait times for radiation therapy but fails on subjets like family physicians who provide extended office hours regularly.

Robichaud says the report, based largely on data from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, will help identify areas in the system that need improving  and over time that picture will become clearer.

Provincial Health Minister Mary Schryer welcomes the report and says the province will target the low grades.

The entire report is available online on the New Brunswick Health Council's website: www.nbhc.ca.