Latest news with #familyDoctors
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
Nova Scotia partners with Lebanese universities to recruit doctors to the province
The Government of Nova Scotia is working with two universities in Lebanon to recruit more family doctors to the province. The province and Lebanese American University in Beirut have signed a memorandum of agreement that outlines a five-year pilot program, a news release from the province says. The program will see two ready-to-practice family physicians come to Nova Scotia each year of the program. Two physicians have already arrived and are practicing in the province, with another set to arrive shortly, the release says. The partnership also includes the American University of Beirut. 'We have doctors who want to make Nova Scotia their home, and we have opportunities to help them do what they do best – provide care to patients,' Michelle Thompson, minister of Health and Wellness, says. 'These partnerships will further strengthen ties between our province and Lebanon and create a unique opportunity to bring highly skilled family physicians to Nova Scotia.' Nova Scotia says they will be investing $5 million over the length of the agreement to cover expenses related to funding two medical school residency positions each year at the Lebanese American University, as well as licensing exams, immigration and relocation costs. In return, the doctors will be required to sign a three-year return-of-service agreement. 'At the heart of this collaboration is something deeply human: the need for care, and the people who provide it,' says Dr. Sola Aoun Bahous, dean and professor of medicine at the Lebanese American University. 'Family doctors are the backbone of any healthcare system, and the growing need for them is felt around the world. Partnerships like this remind us that when collaboration is driven by purpose, medicine knows no borders.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CTV News
16-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Recruitment efforts intensify as physician shortage impacts central Ontario
As Orillia and surrounding communities continue to see growth, so does the need for family doctors. Melanie Delion, a physician recruiter for Orillia Lake Country Physician Recruitment (OLCPR) said the town is experiencing a growing need for comprehensive primary care physicians. A significant portion of the town is over the age of 55. 'We're estimating a shortage of about 15 to 17 family physicians for our community,' said Delion. 'Currently, according to our patient enrollment model data from the Ministry of Health, there's approximately 20,000 people unattached from a physician.' To help combat the doctor and nurse shortage, the province announced that they would expedite the process for U.S. doctors and nurses to work in the province. Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Orillia, Ont. on June 16, 2025. (CTV NEWS / Luke Simard) This would allow nurses to work in Canada before registering with the regulatory college. While this is welcoming news, there are concerns. Dr. Stephan Morris left the country to attend medical school in Australia. Eight years later after completing his fellowship and practicing, he made the decision to come home and work in the community he grew up in. Dr. Morris soon discovered the hurdles he would have to overcome to practice in his hometown. 'The primary hurdles are around licensing,' said Dr. Morris. 'The licensing process is very arduous, and expensive. It has taken me as a prepared candidate, over four months to become licensed to the point where I could work.' Dr. Morris added that the licensing process could take upwards of five months. 'You have to get licensed across three different legislative bodies,' said Dr. Morris. 'You have to get a billing number and all sorts of different things, so I'm actually at the end of that now and can work now, it's been about five months.' While Morris' initial reaction was positive to the news about American doctors, he believes the scope of where doctors are moving from should expand. 'We want to make sure that we can get people who also should be here, like Australians and people from Ireland to the UK, just as easily and just as practice ready, to get here as well,' he continued. While doctors, nurses, and physicians go through the process of becoming registered, the need for medical professionals will continue to climb. 'Twenty per cent of our physician population are over the age of 60 and they care for approximately 8,500 patients currently,' said Delion. 'So, there's approximately, 640 physicians in central Ontario that are over the age of 60, caring for about 875,000 patients.' Dr. Stephan Morris Dr. Stephan Morris left the country to attend medical school in Australia. Eight years later after completing his fellowship and practicing, he made the decision to come home and work in the community he grew up in, Orillia Ont. on June 16, 2025. (CTV NEWS / Luke Simard) Delion recruits' physicians for OLCPR including Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital, she said its competitive to recruit physicians across the country and are taking proactive steps to recruit more to central Ontario. 'We have formalized Central Ontario Physician Recruitment Alliance, which is an alliance across our region that includes Midland, Muskoka, Orangeville, Alliston and Clearview as well as ourselves,' said Delion. 'And we work with the candidate collaboratively.' The town has set aside $500,000 for The Orillia and Lake Country Physician Recruitment if they provide a business plan and quarterly updates. The money will go directly towards the recruitment of bringing physicians to the region. 'We can help you if you're coming from another country, we can help you with some of those licensing fees, we can help you out to entice you to roster patients,' said Delion. 'That is the goal with this, our hope is that we can recruit five to eight family physicians. Ideally, attaching up to 9,600 patients.' Dr. Morris has completed the process to become a registered physician and now works at Orillia Soldiers Memorial Hospital. He hopes to help future physicians going through the process. 'You don't want to have to see people do that and you want to always be bringing doctors, nurses, whoever to your community,' said Dr. Morris. 'So, we should work together once you're through that to get those barriers down.' Dr. Morris plans to open his own family practice in Orillia by the end of the year.
CBC
11-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Mayor and hospital board CEO in small northern Ontario spar over cause of doctor shortage
People without family doctors in the Matheson, Iroquois Falls and Cochrane area are lighting up social media as the mayor of Cochrane and the CEO of the area's hospital board skirmish over why there's a shortage in the area. Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis says thanks to the town's recruiting efforts, family doctors want to locate to an area where many people lack primary care, but he says the MIC's Group of Health Services, which runs the three local hospitals, is letting them down. "Cochrane has actually become a sought-after destination for physicians, with five additional doctors signing employment offers with the town—offers that MICs refused to also sign," he wrote on social media. "The town is committing hundreds of thousands of dollars per doctor, an unprecedented move for a municipality. Unfortunately, MICs—and specifically Lady Minto Hospital—remain the sole barrier preventing these doctors from practicing here." The barrier, claims Politis, is that the board refuses to allocate a certain number of emergency room shifts to prospective family doctors, who want those lucrative shifts to boost their income. "All we require are five emergency room shifts per doctor to attract four more doctors and have more doctors than we need, to have a doctor for everybody," Politis said in an interview. "Every unrostered patient in this community would have a doctor, and they're not providing those shifts." Politis claims it's an arrangement that other communities reach with their hospitals and he's blaming the MICs Group of Health Services for failing to collaborate and help the town of 5,400. But the hospital board fired back in a release late last week saying the town is offering something it can't legally provide. Paul Chatelain— the CEO of the board covering Matheson, Iroquois Falls and Cochrane which includes the Lady Minto Hospital in Cochrane— said when a new doctor arrives this fall, staffing at the emergency room will be at full capacity. He considers that collaboration, and a stable emergency room, to be signs of success, demonstrating co-operation and ensuring the ER remains open when others in northeastern Ontario are frequently closed. "Our mandate is to make sure our ER department and our hospital patients are seen," he said. "Unfortunately, you know, primary care….we work with primary care, but it's not our responsibility." As for carving out emergency room shifts to seal the deal with prospective family doctors, Chatelain said that would go against employment law. "If we were to remove these doctors or take some of their shifts away, there's legal ramifications around that they could sue us for," he said. "It's kind of like an employment contract. We've already touched base with our legal. It's a real sticky situation. We can't just remove physicians' hours." Chatelain said those doctors have long had contracts with the board and the hospital doesn't rely on locums, or visiting doctors, for emergency room coverage, as many other hospitals do. He said if anything changes, such as a retirement of an existing doctor, to create a vacant position among ER staff, he would be freed up to help create an offer to bring in a family physician who also wanted ER shifts. In the meantime, both Politis and Chatelain say collaboration is key as the people they serve in the region grow increasingly vocal about a lack of primary care.
CBC
29-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
St. Thomas area doctor incentive program funds 7 physicians so far this year
A financial incentive program offered by the City of St. Thomas and Elgin County to attract and retain family doctors has doled out funds this year to seven physicians, including at least three new to the region. It's among financial incentives on offer across Ontario from municipal and county governments with the aim of curtailing growing doctor shortages and retaining family physicians. In St. Thomas, the city and county have offered $33,000 in interest-free, forgivable loans for years as part of a Health Recruitment Partnership involving local politicians and other community stakeholders, including St. Thomas Elgin General hospital and the area Home Builders' Association. The loans can be used for office expenses and medical equipment, among other things, and are forgivable on condition the doctor provide at least four years of service in the county. Last week, St. Thomas council endorsed providing funding to two new doctors — Dr. Wallace Ordiah and Dr. Aghogho Nathaniel Oyibo — who plan to begin practising in the city this year. The city and county also offer a scholarship awarding $1,000 per year to up to 10 people enrolled in accredited medical schools, with an emphasis on those pursuing a career as a family doctor locally. Urgent need for family doctors There are many reasons for the shortage of doctors plaguing Ontario municipalities, said Lori Baldwin-Sands, a St. Thomas city council member and chair of the Health Recruitment Partnership. One challenge is the large patient rosters of retiring doctors, which sometimes number as many as 5,000 patients, she said. New doctors coming out of medical school are looking for a better quality of life, and smaller rosters of between 1,000 to 1,500 patients, she said. "This has created an urgent need in communities everywhere, because the doctors that are retiring are leaving a lot of their patients orphaned," by not being able to have a new doctor take on their full patient roster, she told CBC's Afternoon Drive on Tuesday. "The last statistics that we had show about 10,000 orphaned residents without a family doctor within our community, and we know that the numbers are higher," she said referring to both St. Thomas and Elgin County. "We've heard the number can go as high as 15,000, 20,000." At least 13 per cent of Ontarians didn't have access to a regular health care provider in 2023, Statistics Canada data shows. Doctor shortages are more acute in rural communities, and one study by the Ontario College of Family Physicians found at least 670,000 Ontarians travel 50 km or more to see their doctor. In neighbouring London, the idea of municipalities offering financial incentives to attract doctors has garnered criticism from Mayor Josh Morgan, who believes they should be illegal, calling them a race to the bottom which pits municipalities against one another. In March, London councillors voted to provide $50,000 for one year to the Middlesex-London Ontario Health Team, which is leading doctor recruitment efforts in the county. The health team had requested $80,000 over three years. Other Ontario cities offering incentives includes Welland, which provides $100,000 to doctors who moved to the city to launch or take over an existing practice, with the promise they stay in the city for five years. The $1 million program has attracted at least 14 doctors to the city since its 2023 launch. In Huntsville, doctors are lured with an $80,000 signing bonus if they agree to work there for at least five years, while in Marmora and Lake near eastern Ontario, doctors have been offered riverfront housing and clinic space at zero cost. "Some of them are very different. I have talked to some doctors that said they were offered a house for a five-year period. Some doctors are told they would have their tuition paid," Baldwin-Sands said. "We have, in St. Thomas and Elgin County, a quality of life that we feel is second to none. That's why, next week, we're hosting a group of medical students here in the community and showcasing some of the beautiful gems that we have."
