Medical Society of P.E.I. working with province to recruit more doctors
The province has signed an agreement to partner with the Medical Society of P.E.I. to create a plan to recruit more doctors to the Island.
The government announced the partnership in a release on Monday.
Health Minister James Aylward said there are a number of vacant physician jobs across P.E.I., and it's time the province started exploring new ways to fill those positions.
"We can do more, we can do better," Aylward said.
"Who better to help recruit doctors but doctors, I mean they have the network, they have graduated with other doctors … they might know a doctor that's looking at potentially making a change and so the more people that we can have here on P.E.I. helping to recruit doctors to P.E.I., the better."
There are currently more than 16,000 people on the patient registry.
Aylward said the society will be working closely with the Department of Health and Wellness and Health PEI to come up with recommendations for how physician recruitment efforts can improve.
Finding the right fit for P.E.I.
Dr. David Bannon, president of the society, said the organization has been calling for a new recruitment model for some time.
Bannon said the society will be looking at recruitment efforts in other provinces to find a model that could work on P.E.I.
"We have to ask, where has success been realized? Where are the best practices?" he said. "We're going to do the deep dive and do the research to find out across this country, and perhaps elsewhere, what works best using a physicians-recruit-physicians principle."
Bannon said the society will also be getting input from physicians and health-care workers from across the Island to find ways to better support new recruits and ensure they stay to work on P.E.I.
"We recognize that physicians are going to be in the best position to recruit other physicians on this Island," he said. "We're in the position to tell them about the value it is to work on Prince Edward Island, the value to live here."
The society plans to present its recommendations to the province by March 31.
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