Rural doctor leaving Cape Breton over concerns with overloaded health-care system
Yvonne Leblanc-Smith | CBC News | Posted: October 5, 2018 9:00 AM | Last Updated: October 5, 2018
Dr. Emily Beaton says hectic work schedule in Baddeck one reason she is heading to P.E.I.
A rural Cape Breton doctor says she is leaving the province due to her concerns over the sustainability of the health-care system, an overloaded work schedule and a busy emergency room.
Dr. Emily Beaton moved to Cape Breton in July 2016 with her husband, who is originally from Mabou.
She joined the staff at Victoria County Memorial Hospital in Baddeck with hopes of staying in the area and raising a family, but she said the lack of work-life balance has led her to take a job on Prince Edward Island instead.
"Ultimately, feeling as though by staying here we might never have an opportunity to start a family was the deciding factor for us as a couple," she told CBC News.
Beaton, who is originally from New Brunswick, said she is working 80 hours a week, running a family practice, caring for hospital patients and residents at the local long-term care facility, and rotating 24-hour shifts in the emergency room with three other doctors.
She said she expected to have a busy schedule, but not that hectic.
"Also, the fact that our little hospital in Baddeck has gotten so much busier over the last few months, it just sort of gotten a little bit overwhelming."
Beaton said with ER closures at the Northside General Hospital in North Sydney, many people in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality are travelling to Baddeck instead of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney.
"With a lot of the policy-making it often feels as though little hospitals are sort of left out of the equation."
Beaton said the overarching issue for her was a deep concern over the sustainability of the health-care system in Cape Breton and what that means for patient safety.
"It's hard to go to work everyday and see your patients suffering because they're having trouble navigating a problematic system," she said.
"And when you try to help them get the care they need, it's hard or impossible to do because there are already so many demands on the system or the care is just not there."
Workload misunderstandings
Dr. Rick Gibson, acting chief of family practice for the Nova Scotia Health Authority's eastern zone, said there were misunderstandings over Beaton's contract.
"Some mistakes were made around the hours of work she was expecting to work and how the work was divided," he said. "She has correctly identified that she is not comfortable in that position, in that setting."
Gibson said reports indicate the ER in Baddeck has been busier than usual but not overwhelmingly so.
He said Beaton was told about vacancies and other options in Cape Breton.
"I am not sure what else we could have done," Gibson said.
Beaton's last day of work at the hospital in Baddeck is Dec. 14.