The Ponoka Hospital and Care Centre has faced a closure of its emergency department four times since March 13. According to a local doctor, there are likely more closures to come.
Battle River Medical Centre physcian Dr. Greg Sawisky says the issue stems from the community having lost five doctors over the last three years.
“Doctors don’t see Alberta as a good place to work right now,” said Sawisky, in a recent telephone interview.
Sawisky noted that where B.C. and Saskatchewan have “aggressive” recruiting strategies, doctors in Alberta still remember 2020 when the provincial government tore up the master agreement and sent the parties back to the negotiating table.
While there is currently an agreement in place with the government, it has not stopped the physician exodus out of the province, and Sawisky’s hope is that the leaders, whoever forms government after the May election, “will take note” and offer competitive recruitment initiatives on-par with the other Western provinces.
“Whoever it is, needs to do something,” said Sawisky.
Where five doctors have left Ponoka in the last three years, only one has joined the community; and that is as a locum, not a full-time physician.
According to Sawisky, the emergency department and walk-in clinics are under extra pressure at the moment because there are “11,000 patients who don’t have a family doctor” in town.
Ponoka currently has seven physicians working in the community, six full-time, all of whom take shifts in the emergency department, but Sawisky says the town could easily use “another four or five” to take the pressure off.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep that emergency department open,” said Sawisky.
However, he notes that sometimes physicians get ill and are unable to cover; sometimes schedule complications occur which again force a closure.
But, until the town is able to recruit some new physicians, the frequent closures are a “real threat to occur again.”
According to Alberta Health Services (AHS) communications officer Heather Kipling, “AHS works to find locum physician coverage” when a gap in the emergency department is identified.
Kipling notes that local physicians are contacted, followed by a call-out to locums within Central Zone. Barring that, a call goes out to other regions of the province.
“Unfortunately, there are times when, despite our best efforts, we are forced to temporarily close,” said Kipling, in an e-mail statement regarding the frequent closures.
“For example, it can be difficult to cover short-notice gaps due to sudden illness – which has happened recently – as other local physicians are already busy in their private clinics and locums must travel to the community to provide coverage.”
Kipling says that AHS is working with the hospital and local medical group to bring five new physicians to the community.
“Two new hires are awaiting a start date for their practice assessments as required by the College of Physician and Surgeons, and we are completing interviews for the other three positions,” said Kipling.
“AHS is experiencing recruitment challenges across the province with physicians in areas outside of main urban centres. These challenges are not unique to AHS and are being experienced nationally and internationally.”
According to Sawisky, the town is also getting involved by re-forming a physician recruitment committee to see what it can do to entice new physicians to the area.
“Hopefully that will yield some results,” said Sawisky.
Meanwhile, AHS notes that it is searching for solutions “to support recruitment efforts.”
Areas being reviewed are retirement, the pursuit of both Canadian and international physicians, looking into offering part-time positions and seeing what can be done to offer increased incentives.
Finally, AHS says it is working with community partners such as the Health Advisory Councils, the Rural health Professions Action Plan and other community-based recruitment committees.
“We know the community wants to see consistent coverage in the ED, and so do we,” said Kipling.
The Alberta government recently announced $105 million in funding for rural health care facilities and an additional $75 million for other capital projects in rural Alberta as part of the 2023 budget.
The Health Workforce Strategy also provides $113 million to add 100 residency training spaces for newly graduated doctors in rural areas and specialist fields.
“We are making sure we have the necessary funding in place to build and strengthen health care in our rural communities and address barriers to care for those looking for support and treatment close to home and family,” said Minister of Health Jason Copping.
“This work includes programs that focus on how to recruit, retain and even train more physicians, nurses and other professionals in areas outside of the cities.”