N.L. care harmed by doctor shortage: GPs
On Thursday, a former Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association president and general practitioner in St. John’s said her patients must wait up to three weeks to see her, and she fears it’s having an adverse affect on their care.
"When I come out of the office after working eight or 10 hours, and I can count on more than one hand the patients that I don't feel happy with the care I've given them, then I start to feel burnt out," said Dr. Liz Callahan.
She was one of a panel of general practitioners who spoke in St. John's Thursday at the headquarters of the NLMA — the association that represents the province's physicians.
It was the third information session held by the association since the government abruptly pulled its negotiating team from a scheduled meeting in March. While the NLMA said it was told talks were over, government has insisted that only one meeting was cancelled.
Another panel member said Thursday that after patients see her they face another long wait if they need to see a specialist.
"Now, how would you feel if you had to wait three months knowing that your mother had died of that disease at the same age that you are now? Unacceptable," she said.
There are more than 1,100 doctors practising in Newfoundland and Labrador — more than 500 of them are general practitioners.
The medical association says that within the next 10 years, a quarter of the province's general practitioners will retire. It says that already the province is short about a hundred family doctors.
Central Newfoundland family doctor Jody Woolfrey, who has practised in the community of Botwood for the past 13 years, said retention of new physicians is a serious problem.
"Within that 13-year time span, I have had 23 colleagues, 23," he said. "This is a huge turnover, and this is not unique to Botwood."
The association that represents doctors sent the government a contract proposal on March 3.
On Wednesday, provincial government officials said they are preparing a response to that proposal.
Doctors sent a statement to CBC News on Wednesday reiterating an earlier call for binding arbitration to settle the dispute.
The physicians' last four-year contract expired last fall. Doctors say pay increases that bring their fees and salaries closer to what colleagues in the rest of Atlantic Canada make are necessary to attract more physicians to Newfoundland and Labrador and keep to them in the province.