Staffing should be top priority in N.L.'s health-care plans, says doctor
CBC
A Torbay doctor says a plan put forward by Health Minister John Haggie is not enough to address what she says is a health-care system in crisis.
Dr. Alison Drover, a family physician in Torbay, says the province can't look to the future without first addressing current problems.
"The plan that Minister Haggie refers to, it doesn't sound like a plan at all. He's referring to some things really without any substance," Drover told CBC News on Friday.
"He's been talking about collaborative health clinics. It's an excellent idea … but they have no physicians to staff them. All of these clinics are completely full with waiting lists, and we still have 99,000 patients without a family physician."
Haggie shared brief details on the plan during an interview on The St. John's Morning Show on Thursday, hours before the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association announced it was pulling out of contract negotiations with the provincial government.
The union's president says they pulled out because Haggie and Fiance Minister Siobhan Coady told them the provincial government won't spend any money to improve doctor recruitment and retention.
On Thursday, Haggie said the plan is broken down into three parts, and focuses on improving medical teams within the regional health authorities, collaborative-care clinics and working with the province's Health Accord to create a long-term plan that will likely be released by early 2022.
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