Association hears from worried doctors
Physicians are in a state of uncertainty as health policies shift, and the group representing them is on a road trip to hear their concerns
Saskatchewan Medical Association leaders are making 11 stops across the province to hold talks with doctors.
Dr. Joanne Sivertson, president of the SMA and vice-president Dr. Siva Karunakaran, will meet with physicians from the Regina Qu’Appelle Regional Medication Association in the city on Wednesday to hear what’s on their minds. The tour had stopped in Saskatoon on Sept. 5.
Reporter Pamela Cowan caught up with Sivertson while she was en route to the fifth meeting in Swift Current on Tuesday night.
Q What issues have doctors raised at meetings?
A There’s a lot of change in the province right now and across the country. Docs are feeling a little uncertain with a variety of things that are in flux.
In particular, we’re making the transition to the single health region and the way that amalgamation will affect physicians and their ability to provide care is in question.
In general, we know that teambased care is critical.
We support the move to team-based care, but still having clearly defined roles and responsibilities is important. With all of these changes that physicians are facing, there is just a general feeling of unease and we are definitely getting the sense as we visit with physicians across the province that they’re feeling at-risk or under appreciated and that’s leading to further discontent among our members at this moment.
Q What other concerns are being voiced?
A We’re currently under negotiations with the Ministry of Health for our contract and, of course, the federal tax changes that are being proposed are a key concern for physicians as well.
Q What are you looking for in negotiations?
A We’re wanting to maintain fair pay for physicians and we want to stay competitive with the other provinces so we’re not at risk of losing the physicians that we’ve gained in the last few years.
Q What will be the impact of the federal government’s proposed tax changes on physicians?
A There will be more tax required of physicians if these changes were to go through. Without a doubt, physicians who have structured themselves with corporations and have planned for retirement in that manner will see a hit to their bottom line at the end of the year.
Some physicians have structured in such a way that they’ve forfeited RRSP contribution room for many years now and whether there will be any accommodation made for those kinds of structures is in question and physicians are planning for their retirement this way because they don’t get pensions.
There are no benefits as a physician as far as a structured benefit plan.
Q What are Saskatchewan doctors saying about the move to one provincial health authority?
A I think physicians are optimistic that this could be a good thing for the province in general. There certainly can be efficiencies through doing things on a wider scale, but what physicians are very worried about is that we don’t to centralize all services. We’re very aware that patients need to access care as close to home as possible.
Q The federal government is moving ahead with its plan to legalize recreational marijuana by July 1 next year. Do Saskatchewan doctors support this move?
A We’re not so much supporting or not supporting the decision. What we’re doing is lobbying for very thoughtful implementation of the law. The minimum age to smoke marijuana, we feel, should be in the 20s because of the negative effects on the developing brain.
Q What are Saskatchewan doctors saying about their role in medical assistance in dying?
A Doctors first and foremost want to ensure that we have good palliative care services across the board, not just medical aid in dying. It’s really critical that we have a robust system that allows people to die with dignity in whatever manner that they would choose to do so.
Beyond that, we are supportive of our members’ rights to participate or not participate, if that is their choice. We really believe that we need to support our members who do participate in medical aid in dying. By having proper supports in place from a system perspective as well as a financial perspective to remunerate them for the work that they do.
Q With more physicians practising in Saskatchewan, has the work-life balance for doctors improved?
A Without a doubt, we have more physicians per capita than we have ever enjoyed and we are hearing across the province that this has been a boon to many physicians. It’s going to be somewhat dependent on the region they’re working in and the number of physicians in that area. From a survey we did earlier this year, we know that 60 per cent or more of our physicians are feeling either burned out or at risk of burning out. So despite our increased numbers, we know that work expectations on physicians continue to be high and very difficult for many physicians to try and balance their sense of responsibility to the patient and their own personal health.
Q The Ministry of Health, the SMA is revamping its strategic plan. Tell me about that.
A The strategic plan guides the work that we do and we know that we have to develop a plan that’s flexible given the current state and the uncertainty in a variety of ways. We do have the advantage of designing it now at a time when our own internal structure might need to change in relation to the amalgamation to the single health region. We think it’s an opportunity to really make sure that we’re aligned moving forward with whatever the health system design will be.