Doctors from U.K., Australia, New Zealand offered easier path to work in Nova Scotia

Doctors from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand can now jump a big hurdle to get a licence to work in Nova Scotia.

Up until now, foreign doctors wanting to work in Nova Scotia have had to apply to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to have their training evaluated before writing an extensive exam, even if they held valid medical licences in their countries. 

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia will now allow doctors from the U.K., Australia and New Zealand to skip that part of the process.

It's the first province in Canada to drop the requirement.

"Very few competent mid-career physicians would like to move across the world to settle in a different country with medical licensure dependent on challenging an exam, the equivalent of which they might have written 15 or 20 years ago," said Dr. Gus Grant, registrar and CEO of the Nova Scotia college.

He says the change is being made after an extensive vetting process looked at the training, licensure processes and overall health-care system. The conclusion was that those jurisdictions have similar safety standards. 

Now, doctors from those countries who move to Nova Scotia will be given a defined licence, with the potential of having a full licence down the road. They'll be supervised in their job for six months.

"Our goal is to create a welcoming approach to licensure to competent physicians, to open the door as wide as possible," Grant said. "When you make licensing decisions, these decisions are anchored primarily in public safety."

Last year, Nova Scotia's College of Physicians and Surgeons made a similar change for physicians coming from the United States. Since then, Grant says about 15 doctors have used that path to move to the province.

Efforts to decrease the bureaucratic burden on doctors interested in working in Nova Scotia come at a time when nearly 145,000 people are on a waitlist for a family doctor.

In the northern part of the province, Truro and Colchester have started doing their own recruiting in the United Kingdom.

David Phillips, CEO of the Truro and Colchester Partnership for Economic Prosperity, says their goal is to find a primary-care provider for the 6,000 people in their area who remain on the list.

"Any policy changes that ease or accelerate the recruitment of qualified doctors into our community are going to be welcome by all communities," Phillips said.

His group heard from 199 physicians who were curious about moving to the area. They've filtered that down to 18 family doctors and specialists who are qualified and have genuine interest.