Family doctors say their relationship with Health P.E.I. is strained and damaged

Doctors in Prince Edward Island are continuing to voice their concerns with recent changes to their workloads.

About 100 family physicians recently signed a letter saying they're concerned about the number of patients they see under a new agreement between the Medical Society of P.E.I., the Department of Health and Wellness and Health P.E.I.

Dr. Trina Stewart, a family doctor in Summerside and president of the P.E.I. College of Family Physicians, said most of their concern centres on how doctors will collect the data for the work they do.

“We all spend time in our offices with our patient panels, but many of us also feel very important gaps in the system at large,” Stewart said.

“It's also work that the system has come to expect from us and they need us for and further gaps would develop if we couldn't do them.”

Under the agreement, the workload system contains two models. One would see 1,600 patients as “the benchmark” for a doctor's panel, while the other allows for 1,300 patients.

Stewart said many family doctors are looking to the second option because “everybody is working at full capacity right now.”

The deadline for physicians to decide on which model they want was initially Jan. 31, but Health P.E.I. later extended it to Feb. 28.

Stewart said she's concerned doctors won't be able to serve the health-care system in the way needed, which could be detrimental to patients. She said doctors want to have “diversity” in their work.

“We need to be attractive and competitive from a recruitment standpoint,” Stewart said.

“We feel like the negativity … we've had within Health P.E.I. and the communication that we've historically had being lost is impacting that, unfortunately.” 

In a statement, the College of Family Physicians of Canada said family doctors are “the foundation of health care in Canada,” and that governments should "recognize their importance and treat family physicians’ voices and perspectives with respect as health policy is being developed."

The national college described the concerns brought forward by its P.E.I. counterpart as “reasonable.”

“At a time when administrative burden takes time away from patient care and deteriorates the physicians’ well-being, the new agreement seems to impose excessive reporting requirements,” the statement reads.