Sask. town to lose 2 doctors by end of January

Kipling, Sask., is set to lose two of three doctors at its health centre and area by the end of January.

"Am I happy about it? Not at all," said Kipling Mayor Pat Jackson. "Here's the reality: health care is not something that municipalities can do a whole lot about."

It's been a roller-coaster year for health care in Kipling, located about 145 kilometres southeast of Regina, as three doctors left the community over the summer with their Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) contracts coming due.

A virtual physician program and locum coverage helped meet the need until three more doctors could come to Kipling through the SIPPA program full time. Now retention concerns are back at the forefront with the resignation of two of those three new doctors, mere months after arrival.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said the departures are not due to anything the town did or did not do.

"It has nothing to do with the Town of Kipling — that was clear in the feedback — and nothing to do with the SHA," said Trent Truscott, director of primary health care for the area, adding that the duo left for "very personal reasons."

Mayor Jackson said one of the doctors said they were relocating to Edmonton in order to be with family.

A group from SIPPA is expected to visit the Kipling facility soon, but it is not clear if the visit will result in any new physicians.

"We're still waiting to see," Truscott said. "I haven't been flagged yet that we're getting one in this current round, in this current iteration. Most unfortunate, but, fingers crossed — we are holding out hope. It's not much of a plan, but it's what we've got."

While the virtual physician program will still be in place to alleviate some of the workload, Mayor Jackson doesn't feel it's enough to prevent burnout.

"I am desperately concerned, so are a good many of the staff, that the one remaining physician will burn out," she said. "Because even though we've got a nurse practitioner and an advanced authorized practice nurse in the ER, it still comes down to a lot of pressure on people, and in this case, on one person. So it's highly concerning."

Truscott said he is confident in the current team at the Kipling Integrated Health Centre, adding that the AAP nurse at the facility not only assists with emergency care, but sees primary health patients that would otherwise see a doctor.

"She's well known to the community," he said. "She's a resident and raised her family in Kipling.

"We're proud to have her, and she sees a full caseload and sees a large number of patients every single day, and she is also staying. And then our one doctor who is staying — and we're really happy he's staying — has become very active in the clinic."

Truscott confirmed that virtual care will continue in Kipling, something that has been proven to offer a break for rural physicians.

"Not only does it cover you when you're short, but it's a real opportunity to look at their quality of life," he said. "It's a tough place to be as a young physician in a small community when you don't have a lot of colleagues."

Kipling is not alone in rural physician retention woes. Mayor Jackson pointed to places like Arcola and Oxbow that are facing their own issues. She asked if more could be done to better prepare doctors coming to Saskatchewan from other places in the world for life in a rural community.

"One of the things I've discussed with Trent is that SHA has to be doing a better job of preparing them for a small town," she said. "Maybe bringing them out ahead of time, maybe teaching them how to drive in the winter. That sounds ridiculous, but if you come from a country where you've never seen snow, it's a totally different ball game driving in the winter time."

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