Doctor in charge of recruiting physicians steps down

Lynne Harrigan, the vice-president of medicine and integrated health services for the Nova Scotia Health Authority, resigned effective Sept. 4.

Lynne Harrigan, the vice-president of medicine and integrated health services, resigned effective Sept. 4

CBC News Posted: Sep 05, 2018 10:58 AM EDT | Last Updated: September 5, 2018

Dr. Lynne Harrigan's resignation was effective Sept. 4. (Amy Smith/CBC)

The woman in charge of recruiting doctors in Nova Scotia has stepped down from her position.

Dr. Lynne Harriganwas the vice-president of medicine and integrated health services for the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Her resignation was effective Sept. 4.

The president and CEO of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, Janet Knox, said in a statement she had mixed emotions about Harrigan's departureand praised her "passion, empathy, integrity and courage."

"Under her leadership, we have brought key stakeholders together to develop a robust recruitment strategy, and supported many other areas of the health system that will be catalysts to attracting and keeping doctors in this province, including incentive programs, pathways to practice for foreign physicians, improved flexibility and expanded rural residency programs," read Knox's statement.

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The statement did not provide reasons for Harrigan'sdepartureand Knox declined to comment further.

The health authority will begin the process of finding a replacement for Harrigan in the coming days.

Health Minister Randy Deloreysaid Harrigan had her work cut out for her, including grappling with the merger of nine separate health authorities.

"The work that was before her and her colleagues was no small task and I appreciatethe service that she's provided," he said. "Such a process is not easy and not for the faint of heart. So there are bumps along the way but there's a lot of good work that's been done as well."

Doctor shortage

Nova Scotia is facing a doctor shortage, with 56,630 residents on the wait-list for a family physician as of Sept. 1.

The province has been trying to reduce the wait-list byproviding incentives to doctors for taking on additional patients andmaking overseas recruitment trips.

But with a doctor retirement boom on its way Dartmouth alone is set to lose 40 per cent of its family doctors to retirement over the next five years finding physicians for all the province's orphan patients will be an uphill battle.

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