Nova Scotia Health recently launched a new system that brings patient records from the Central Zone and IWK Health together in one place, with province-wide coverage expected by the end of 2026. South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will have to wait until later this year to go online. The “One Person One Record” program started on May 9 in Halifax Regional and West Hants municipalities, as well as some mental health and addictions services. The goal is to let healthcare teams see a patient’s full medical history no matter where they are treated.
For now, doctors and nurses at South Shore Regional Hospital still use the existing mix of paper and computer records. The province says the Western Zone, which includes Bridgewater, is expected to get the new system by the end of 2026. Until then, patients coming to the hospital may need to share their history more than once if they have also been seen at a facility that already uses the new records.
The rollout has not been without problems. A union survey of 260 workers at IWK Health, the Halifax children’s and women’s hospital that tested the system starting in December 2025, found that four months in, 82.4 percent still had job impacts and many reported patient safety issues. Those included 83 medication errors and 224 cases of missing or incorrect paperwork. Despite that, Health Minister Michelle Thompson called the early May launch “very, very successful.” Karen Oldfield, interim CEO of Nova Scotia Health, noted that doctors appreciate being able to see records before meeting a patient.
People visiting hospitals already using the system will notice staff in purple vests offering help during the change. The $365 million project, built by Oracle Health under a 10-year deal signed in 2023, will eventually replace more than 50 older systems and affect over 26,000 health workers across Nova Scotia.
