Cape Breton doctor recruits replacing those who've left, says health dept.
Joan Weeks | CBC News | Posted: June 27, 2016 11:30 AM | Last Updated: June 27, 2016
Health authority says it's recruiting doctors at same rate as they leave, but MLA Alfie MacLeod disagrees
While more doctors are leaving Cape Breton every year, just as many moved there through recruitment, according to Nova Scotia Health Authority numbers.
Almost 1,000 people attended a rally in Sydney earlier this month to raise concerns about the imminent retirement of many general practitioners, and the fact that thousands of people are without a family doctor.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority provided to CBC the latest available numbers for doctors practicing in Cape Breton.
- Between April 2013 and March 2014: 1 family doctor and 7 specialists either left or retired.
- In 2015: 5 family doctors and 6 specialists were lost.
- Between March 2015 and March 2016, 4 family doctors and 10 specialists left or retired.
That totals 10 general practitioners and 23 specialists.
The health authority says during that same period of time, between April 2013 and March 2016:
- 15 general practitioners and 25 specialists were recruited.
MLA calls for answers
But Alfie Macleod, MLA for Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg, said the numbers don't reassure him.
"We don't know if they are comparing apples to apples or what the story is," MacLeod said.
He helped organize the rally and has been raising the issue in the Nova Scotia Legislature, even getting ejected during one heated exchange with Health Minister Leo Glavine.
"I do know that there was 900 plus people [who] came out to a meeting and said there was a big concern about doctors," MacLeod said.
"If somebody is coming in as a family doctor, are they taking over a whole practice, or are they only taking over part of it? So I still think there is a lot of questions that need to be answered."
Worried about future
MacLeod said he's still worried about the future, with more doctors getting ready to leave their practices "either through moving away, retirement or just pure frustration.
"I know of two people who this week ... got letters from their doctor to say they are no longer going to be practicing," he said.