The Honourable Chester Gillan, Minister of Health today reconfirmed government’s commitment to resolving ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining rural physicians in the province. “We recognize that the current physician complement is not at full capacity in West Prince which puts greater strain on both full-time and locum physicians,” said Minister Gillan. “We are committed to recruitment and retention in West Prince and, although the task is difficult and nationally-competitive, we are committed to finding both short- and long-term solutions.”
The Department of Health is actively recruiting physicians for the area. There is strong indication that a full-time physician intends to join the complement in O’Leary. The physician is currently going through the final stages of immigration.
Another physician is doing a site visit on January 25th, and government is hopeful that individual will join the O’Leary complement as a full-time physician. There are also two locum physicians lined up to arrive between now and May.
The Department of Health has contracts with six private physician recruitment firms. They work closely with the Department of Health to recruit physicians on a national and international level.
The Minister said Government’s announcement of a new, state-of-the-art hospital for West Prince will help address the current on-call challenges being experienced by physicians in the area.
“I think it is important for rural Islanders to understand that essentially rural and urban physicians are paid the same for the same services irrespective of location. This is pursuant to the collective agreement that is negotiated by the Medical Society on behalf of all physicians and the government,” said the Minister.
Minister Gillan added, “The collective agreement outlines a difference in pay between full-time emergency room physicians at the QEH and PCH and the on-call emergency room coverage for our rural hospitals. The reason for this difference is based on the volume of patients seen and the acuity level of patients seen.”
The current agreement expires at the end of March. A negotiation team has been appointed and the negotiations began two weeks ago. Either through this process or another process, the parties can negotiate new rates or increases in fees. The Minister said difficulties in rural doctor retention aren’t solely financial.
“Government is planning to further address physician retention and recruitment in rural areas in the next budget,” added Minister Gillan. “We recognize that this is a challenge across the country and PEI is no exception. We are certainly aware that there are significant pressures in the West Prince area and we are diligently working to address those issues.”