Family doctor closing practice 2 years after starting work in P.E.I.

A doctor who has been practicing on Prince Edward Island for a little more than two years is calling it quits.

Health P.E.I. confirmed that Dr. Ching Ling Yoong will close her practice at the Parkdale Medical Centre in Charlottetown on May 6. 

In a statement to CBC News, Health P.E.I. says Dr. Yoong "provided care to between 400-500 patients and began work on P.E.I. in January of 2022. Those individuals are receiving letters advising them of the closure. Patients are being provided with free virtual care service and instructions on accessing health-care services that do not require a physician referral."

CBC News reached out to the doctor but didn't hear back.

'Understand the anxiety and confusion'

In a letter to her patients, Dr. Yoong said it was a difficult decision. 

"This may be unexpected for some, but I've found that it has become demanding for me to provide the type of care that I feel my patients and Islanders alike deserve while working within a challenging system," she wrote.

"I understand the anxiety and confusion this may cause." 

Health P.E.I. said there are no immediate replacement physicians or nurse practitioners to cover the practice. It said patients who were assigned to the doctor for less than a year will be provided their original application date when they're returned to the provincial waitlist for family doctors, known as the patient registry.  

That registry now has nearly 37,000 patients on it, the vast majority of them in Queens County.

"It was nice to finally get someone," said Amber Manuel, who waited on the patient registry for 12 years before getting Dr. Yoong as a family doctor. "She was great, she was thorough. Now we're back to the list, back to walk-in [clinics] and it's frustrating."

"Pretty hopeless, that's what it is, pretty hopeless," added Manuel's husband, Chris Wilkinson.

'Every loss has an impact'

The president of the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island said this departure is another reminder of the fragility of the health-care system, and the need to act with a sense of urgency.

"We know when a decision like this is made, it is extremely difficult, especially during a time when the system is so strained," Dr. Krista Cassell said in a statement to CBC News.

"We are seeing far too many family medicine specialists move away from practicing family medicine. Every loss has an impact on Islanders' ability to access care."

'We can do a better job'

The society said it is having conversations with Health P.E.I. and the provincial government about "bringing new solutions forward" to help address the challenges facing doctors.   

"We can do a better job in creating solutions that show our family medicine specialists that we have their backs to help retain them, and just as importantly make P.E.I. the preferred place to practice family medicine in Canada," Cassell said.