HEALTH-CARE CRISIS IN WEST PRINCE: OPPOSITION LEADER
PC leader estimates 18,000 Islanders have no family doctor, about double the province’s number
A health-care crisis in West Prince has shown how broken P.E.I.’s patient registry is, says Opposition Leader James Aylward.
Aylward kicked off question period Tuesday by grilling the province on the state of health care in P.E.I.’s western end, which currently has three vacancies for family physicians.
While there are about 3,000 Islanders in West Prince without a family doctor only about 567 are on the patient registry, said Aylward.
“This is a completely unacceptable situation,” he said, adding that those vacancies are putting more pressure on emergency departments and walk-in clinics.
“It’s quite clear and quite evident that the patient registry is not working, in fact, I would have to say it’s actually broken.”
In an email to The Guardian, a spokesperson with the province stated there are approximately 9,000 people without a primary care provider across the province, including those on the patient registry and individuals who are part of a family practice panel.
Aylward disputed the province’s numbers in question period.
By comparing the West Prince numbers with other areas of P.E.I., Aylward said the total number of Islanders without a family physician is likely closer to 18,000 and questioned why Islanders are being told not to go on the patient registry after losing their doctor.
“It’s symbolic all across the Island. We’re losing doctors, and there are more and more patients and Islanders without a family doctor,” Aylward said during an interview with The Guardian. “We have a major issue here on P.E.I. where we have a Department of Health that is continually telling Islanders not to go on the patient registry. That tells me right there, the government is trying to fudge the numbers and make the problem not look as bad.”
Health Minister Robert Mitchell said patients do have the option of going on the patient registry, but he also stated that when a doctor retires it’s often best to keep their panel of patients together.
“So that when we do find a new doctor… they transition as a group,” said Mitchell, adding that rural areas all throughout Canada have difficulties recruiting doctors.
“We do know it’s easier to transition full panel sizes to new doctors… it is difficult to recruit to rural areas, but we have a major focus on this and will continue to work on this.”
The first half of question period saw Opposition members target a number of health-care issues, including physician recruitment and increasing the scope of pharmacists.
Aylward pressed Mitchell to use private recruiters to try to fill physician vacancies, rather than relying just on the department’s recruitment team.
Mitchell said the department’s recruiters network with private recruiters and that they all face the same challenges.
“They’re all out trying to recruit the same individuals to come to their jurisdictions to work in their health-care systems,” said Mitchell.
“We have a very valuable recruitment team that… work hard to go out and capture physicians to come to work on Prince Edward Island.”