Three recruitment trips, one doctor hired
‘The missions are successful,’ says Osborne
In the legislature on Wednesday, Progressive Conservative health critic Barry Petten said an access to information request filed by the official Opposition found that out of three Department of Health recruitment trips to Ireland, the United Kingdom and Saskatchewan, just one physician was hired as of Feb. 10.
Petten said the department spent more than $100,000 on travel.
The single hire was an Irish doctor.
However, the access response indicates it was “difficult to determine with any certainty the exact numbers”
recruited from those trips because an applicant hired by the health authority would have had to identify they were related to one of those recruitment events.
Therefore, there may be others, the response said.
“The missions are successful,” Health Minister Tom Osborne told Saltwire.
Saltwire asked Osborne how he knows they are successful, and how he measures that success if no one is asking new hires whether or not they applied because of a recruitment event?
“Shouldn’t that be a question that we’re asking them just so that you can measure your efforts?” Saltwire asked.
“You’re absolutely right,” Osborne said.
He said he would ask the recruitment team to start doing that.
“I will ensure that that is put in place because it is valuable for feedback purposes. You know, how did you hear of Newfoundland and Labrador? Were you attracted because of a recruitment event? Did our
advertising attract you to the province? So, those are important metrics to have, absolutely. … It is something that absolutely should be done,” he said.
While the access request response only noted the number of physicians hired by the health authority, Osborne said the department’s trip to Ireland also filled four out of the five international spots in Memorial University’s family medicine residency program. He said those residents guaranteed the government a return in service.
Saltwire asked Osborne how he measures the success of a recruitment trip. Would one hire be considered a success?
“The community that the Irish doctor is working in — ask them if the mission was successful,” Osborne said.
“They now have a doctor. Bottom line is: that community has a doctor. They have access to primary care, in person, through a doctor who’s working in that community.”