Nice idea, but where are the doctors?
Dear Editor:
Regarding the column NL Health Matters by Mardi Collins who claims that her dog gets better health care than humans, she fails to say how much she pays for that care. Yes, you can go to the vet hospital and get “one stop” care for your animal from x-rays, ultrasounds etc., to medications if you can afford the fees.
We are blessed (as humans) to have all these things offered to us at no cost. I am fortunate to have a family doctor and feel for the people who are not so lucky. Her suggestion to open seven clinics in Conception Bay is a wonderful idea but where do you find the doctors and other staff to operate them?
I have had occasion to attend the Health Hub in St. John’s and have nothing but good things to say about it.
Anastasia Dunn
Mackinsons
Hi Anastasia
I think you misunderstood the article I wrote. Firstly there are NO doctors to fill most of the vacancies in NL< and there never will be because our domestic supply is woefully in adequate. So this proposal uses the skills of trained NursePractitioner and Paramedics to fill the gap. They will have ONE teledoc to oversee the 7 clinics. But they are responsible for screening the mildest cases and fully treating them so they do NOT end up in the Hub. Patients who are the sickest will be referred to the Teledoc at the HUB who will see them same day OR refer them to a doctor who can. Urgent cases include infections of the GI, respiratory, urinary tract or skin. They also include mild sprains, lacerations and burns. These are the MOST common cases that end up in emerg, and the mild cases really add to wait times for critical patients. A well trained NP and paramedic is much easier to find than a doctor, and they are quite capable to handle MILD routine urgent care cases.
In regards to Nice Idea letter to editor. The writer has misunderstood my proposal. It involves 7 satellite clinics, with ONE nurse practitioner and ONE paramedic in each. Overseen by ONE teledoc at the HUB. The entire concept requires ONE doctor. IF we had to wait for 7 docs for these clinics it would NEVER happen.
The reason is that NLHealth can NEVER hire enough doctors for our needs, even if they could hire from out of province and out of country. To better understand why- read Medical workers- the crisis. As it turns out NLHealth has a very minimal budget for out of province recruitment, and I am not sure what they are doing to encourage retention, but many docs leave our province every year.