Just a year after arriving, 2 family doctors in Digby are leaving

Two family physicians that joined the Digby and Area Health Services Centre just one year ago are leaving the southwest Nova Scotia town to practise in Halifax.

The impending departures are being described as a "huge loss" for a community that, like some other rural areas of the province, has faced recruitment challenges and seen doctors come and go over the years.

The Nova Scotia Health Authority has confirmed that Dr. Genna Bourget and Dr. Jennifer Chang will finish practising in Digby at the end of November.

Last September, Bourget and Chang were two of three doctors who joined three nurse practitioners and a family practice nurse at the three-year-old collaborative-care clinic.

The clinic serves 9,000 to 9,500 patients.

Jimmy MacAlpine, the warden of the Municipality of the District of Digby, said he just found out the two doctors are leaving.

"It was quite a shock and disappointing at the same time because we're trying to build a collaborative model practice in Digby and they were crucial on having that go forward," he said in an interview.

"We were very hopeful that we were just starting to build a full clinic, and we still need more doctors other than those two. And it's hard right now for the whole community to hear this, and it's going to be a huge loss to the community."

Facing the same problem

The province and the Nova Scotia Health Authority have been under pressure to recruit more doctors. There are more than 50,000 Nova Scotians registered on a provincial wait-list for those seeking a family physician.

MacAlpine is worried about the health authority's ability to recruit and retain doctors in his region.

"In the past we've had a number of doctors come to Digby and leave, and I believe that a lot of rural areas do face that same problem," he said.

He said he thought a collaborative health-care model, with many professionals under one roof, would have worked well for the two young doctors. He said he's not sure why they are leaving, but wonders if they felt overworked.

New doctor arriving in Weymouth

MacAlpine estimates that Digby needs at least six doctors to adequately serve the community. One other family doctor will begin practising at the Weymouth Medical Centre in October.

Dr. Crystal Todd, the head of family practice for the western zone of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, said the main reason Bourget and Chang are leaving is to allow them to practise closer to their hometowns and families.

"We felt … that it was really important to support them in that," Todd said. "They are still excited to practise family medicine and still excited to stay within Nova Scotia practising family medicine."

Todd, a family physician in New Minas, acknowledged that practising rural family medicine and in an under-serviced area anywhere in the province has its own set of challenges.

"We are constantly recruiting for as many doctors as we can get and so you could always use more physician support, especially in a place like Digby," she said.

"We were and continue to continually recruit for Digby. I'm sure the workload that they have is high. I'm confident to say that we worked with them for that entire year to try to maintain a work-life balance."

Todd said there will be many people without a primary-care provider and she encourages them to register on the provincial wait-list.

Ideally, Todd said, the health authority could run a solid collaborative practice with between four and six doctors. The authority meets regularly with community leaders from Digby, Weymouth, Clare, and Bear River to discuss recruitment and retention.

Tony Kelly, the head of the citizen-led Digby Area Health Coalition, called situation dire and frustrating.

"One of those doctors has been trained in looking after pregnant mothers, babies and all that and has been getting in-servicing and work down in the Yarmouth area," he said. "She leaves and she leaves her slew of patients — babies and children."

Residents, he said, are trying to make sense of the development.

"What should we be saying to the politicians involved who have set this up almost to fail, that's what it looks like," he said. "It's set up to fail because they know that people coming in are not necessarily going to meet their contracts."