N.L.'s doctor shortage a problem, but not a crisis, says health minister

Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister wouldn't label the province's worsening doctor shortage a crisis on Tuesday, despite recent data from the province's doctors' association that shows nearly one in five residents don't have a family physician.

In a news conference meant to address another thorn in the Health Department's side — high ambulance demand and long delays plaguing paramedics in metro St. John's — Minister John Haggie stood by his recent declaration of a plan to close health-care gaps.

"The long-term plan is essentially going to be the Health Accord ... that will be our road map," Haggie said, referring to a working draft from a task force tapped last year to overhaul the health-care system.

The minister said that document, when finalized, would contain recommendations for drop-in clinics and collaborative models to address those gaps, among other suggestions.

But the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association recently said an access-to-information request looking for that plan turned up nothing beyond a documents from 2015.

"The material exists," Haggie said Tuesday. "It's just not in a big binder with 'The Plan' written on it in red letters."

More than 98,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are currently without a family doctor, according to the NLMA, which has asked the provincial government to address the shortage by implementing a recruitment and retention strategy. Those calls have been echoed by individual doctors, as well as the union representing registered nurses.