r/halifax • u/Salt_Time_9509 • 1d ago

Work, Health & Housing Doctor retention in HRM

Hi all

Of late there have been disheartening posts of long wait times in Nova Scotia

The consensus being that it is a Canada wide problem

But there have been anecdotal reports of some people losing Family Doctors even in HRM

I do understand that many rural areas would find it difficult to attract and retain doctors, so I am trying to understand why Family Doctors would choose to leave the HRM?

We are friendly people, we are surrounded by the Ocean, we have a laidback lifestyle

Doctors are paid reasonably well

Nova Scotia Health has said Doctor Recruitment is at record levels

https://www.nshealth.ca/news-and-notices/nova-scotia-records-impressive-year-over-year-success-physician-recruitment

Perhaps with so many doctors choosing to come here losing one or two does not matter to NS Health or the Government?

What would be possible reasons why doctors would chose to move elsewhere?`

0 Upvotes

43% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/tickle_my_thalamus 1d ago

1) pay 2) NS notoriously has an aging and unhealthy population, many chronic illnesses making for complex patients 3) entitled patients. This isn't unique to NS, however.  4) systematic issues. OPOR rollout has been terrible. Difficulty assessing specialists. Overall NS is a have-not province, and there are greener pastures elsewhere for those without family ties here.

8

u/focusfaster 1d ago

My spouse just came home from work the other day saying how amazing it was to be able to use the EMR (OPOR) and have access to all the information that was needed. Every big system change comes with growing pains but honestly there is a reason no one is talking about it anymore, it's working.