Staffing should be top priority in N.L.'s health-care plans, says doctor

A Torbay doctor says a plan put forward by Health Minister John Haggie is not enough to address what she says is a health-care system in crisis.

Dr. Alison Drover, a family physician in Torbay, says the province can't look to the future without first addressing current problems.

"The plan that Minister Haggie refers to, it doesn't sound like a plan at all. He's referring to some things really without any substance," Drover told CBC News on Friday.

"He's been talking about collaborative health clinics. It's an excellent idea but they have no physicians to staff them. All of these clinics are completely full with waiting lists, and we still have 99,000 patients without a family physician."

Haggie shared briefdetails on the plan during an interview onThe St. John's Morning Showon Thursday, hours before the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association announced it waspulling out of contract negotiations with the provincial government.

The union's president says they pulled out because Haggie and Fiance Minister Siobhan Coadytold them the provincial government won't spend any moneyto improve doctor recruitment and retention.

On Thursday, Haggie said the plan is broken downinto three parts, and focuses on improving medical teams within the regional health authorities, collaborative-care clinics and working with the province's Health Accord to create a long-term plan that will likely be released by early 2022.

"All of us have got to work together, there's no one group that can fix this," Haggie said Thursday morning. "We need to have doctors, the academics, government, the regional health authorities and communities sitting down together. At the end of the day, we've got a great province to sell, and I think that's where the municipalities come in."

While she wasn't at the negotiatingtable during contract talks, Drover said she's heard "a whole lot of nothing" about addressing the doctor shortage.

"There's no recognition of the shortage of family doctors and the critical impact this is having on the health of the patients of this province. And there's no intention to improve that situation," she said.

Haggie said the short-term approach is about addressing operational issues within the regional health authorities, such as which doctor or nurse practitioner covers which clinic, and using virtual health methods in areas where there are staff crunches.

"But there's no doubt about it, it is a challenge, and it's particularly a challenge for those people who don't have a family doctor," Haggie said.

"I'm sure people are anxious. I've heard it and I get my emails about it on a regular basis."

Drover says shifting doctors around the system won't help in the short-term.

"Moving doctors around doesn't make more doctors," she said.

She says the priority should be on staffing and doctor recruitment to help patients in crisis across the province.

"Every day, 100,000patients are looking for care and 100,000 patients are meeting with a big brick wall. This is a crisis that is hurting people. It is immoral and upsetting and demoralizing, and it's got to change."

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