'Work with me': Faced with doctor departures, Health P.E.I. official pleads for collaboration

As three family doctors prepare to leave their practices, Health P.E.I.'s chief medical officer says work is ongoing to support their patients.

Dr. Heather Austin, Dr. Andrew MacLeod and Dr. Mitchell Stewart each have let the provincial health authority aware of their decision to either resign or retire, which will leave a total of about 4,500 patients without a primary care provider.

Austin told CBC News in an interview this week that the relationship between family physicians and Health P.E.I. "made it harder for me to do the work that I love."

Dr. Johan Viljoen, the chief medical officer for Health P.E.I., said Austin’s statement "stings."

"It's hard to hear that because our goal as the three stakeholders going in was quite simple — very reliable access to team-based primary care for all Islanders," Viljoen told CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin.

Austin said her departure was triggered by an agreement announced in December between the Medical Society of P.E.I., the provincial Department of Health and Wellness and Health P.E.I.

The agreement focuses on workload targets, allowing doctors can choose between different patient roster models: Model A, with 1,600 patients, or Model B, with 1,300.

Austin has said she and some other doctors are not opposed to the agreement, but they still have concerns around how that agreement is being implemented — particularly when it comes to the administrative burden it places on physicians.

Viljoen agrees there have been challenges, but said doctors need to be willing to work with Health P.E.I. to come up with a solution.

"It's the implementation, you know, and the devil will always be in the details," Viljoen said. 

"I think it's a very good agreement. I think it sets the stage for a very exciting future. There's no doubt in my mind. Are there implementation hitches? Yes, but let's work through them."

Earlier this year, the P.E.I. College of Family Physicians said it surveyed its membership and found that 77 per cent believe the agreement will drive doctors away from the province, and that many were considering changes to their practice that would impact patient care.

"I am hearing the message," Viljoen said. "The solution is not to continue telling us what's wrong. The solution is to work with me. And I am pleading for that. Work with me."

For those thousands of Islanders who are expected to lose their primary care provider, Viljoen said Health P.E.I. is working "non-stop" to recruit more doctors.