Nova Scotia

Cancer care runs through the Nova Scotia Health Cancer Care Program. Pancreatic cancer sits inside general oncology — there is no dedicated pancreatic program.

Some genomic testing happens in-province at QEII, and germline testing for the Maritimes runs through Halifax — but there is no comprehensive funded province-wide program.

This score rests on the Atlantic regional figure: private plans and cash paid 59% of selected take-home oncology drug spending (PMPRB, 2019 data). It is a share of spending, not an out-of-pocket measure.

The Atlantic Clinical Cancer Research Unit runs trials from Halifax, and a national pancreatic sequencing program expanded a site there — but pancreatic trial access is still assessed as extremely limited.

Pancreatic surgery is centralized at a single centre in Halifax. The published median wait from GP referral to treatment — across all specialties, not pancreatic-specific — is 39.1 weeks (Fraser Institute, 2024).

A provincial program funds travel over 50 km one-way, but its $35,000 gross family-income test is documented as excluding many rural residents.

A province-wide cancer patient navigation program with oncology-certified navigators, in place since the early 2000s — documented as an Atlantic strength.

All six Atlantic CIHR pancreatic cancer grants are hosted in Nova Scotia — $273,000 of the 88-grant national register.