Doctor shortage being managed, but it's not business as usual

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The impending departure of four full-time family doctors from the Kings County area has left a number of their patients scrambling.

Seniors Mildred and Gerald West of North Grand Pre were among them. “I spent two days calling all around (western) Nova Scotia,” recalled Mrs. West when she learned her Kentville-based physician was departing.

Fortunately, a newly qualified doctor in Wolfville was willing to accept the couple as patients, which Mrs. West acknowledges was a great relief. “Going to a clinic is not the same,” she says.

Dr. Lynn Harrigan at Annapolis Valley Health understands that sentiment. “We’re losing active, long-serving physicians who are leaving for no specific reason. It’s bad luck and will increase the pressure on an already stressed system.”

Luckily, the health district had some warning and, the chief of staff and VP medicine says, active recruiting has been underway through job fairs, at Dalhousie Medical School and physician networking.

One family doctor has already agreed to move to Kentville in July and, Harrigan says, a second is about to sign on for the Wolfville area. “If we can locate three and four we will significantly reduce the problem, but it will be six months before we see any improvement.”

Harrigan says the safety of patients has been a priority in planning for the interim and she recommends patients without a doctor go to the two community health centres in Berwick and Wolfville.

Doctors serving at those two after-hours clinics have agreed to access the results of any necessary tests. “We want to assure people there’s an option,” Harrigan said. ‘Doing everything in our power’: Harrigan

Annapolis Valley Health CAO Janet Knox adds that the clinics are open seven days a week and the emergency room at Valley Regional Hospital is another option, but the waits there will be longer. “That’s the most we can do,” said Harrigan, who is a general internist herself. “I have best friends who don’t have doctors. We want to reassure people we are doing everything in our power,” including meeting with local politicians.

She says that, fortunately, the eastern Valley is a place that attracts doctors, unlike Digby and Yarmouth.

Knox says an unfortunate chain of events has required an interim strategy. “It isn’t business as usual.”

According to Harrigan, the Mud Creek Clinic in Wolfville has been inundated and is no longer taking patients. Luckily, a number of doctors have agreed to take on the sicker patients of the departing physicians.

Knox says the interdisciplinary medical teams here are attractive to both doctors and nurse practitioners. “That’s the way of the future,” notes Harrigan. “When you have a team, all the members can contribute their strengths.”

The Clinician Assessment for Practice Program has added a couple of new, foreign-trained family doctors to the area. Harrigan says this tightly monitored mentorship program has been very successful.