The Provincial Government and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador continue to work collaboratively to find new and creative ways to help address the long-term stability of the health care system.
The College continues to assess standards and streamline the process for Canadian and internationally-trained physicians to become licensed in the province. The following is an update on the most recent changes made by the College:
- The number of clinical practice hours required to obtain or maintain a licence has been further defined. The new requirement is 450 hours in the three years before application;
- There are changes to the application requirements for applicants seeking a licence in Specialty Practice. A policy has been implemented allowing previously licensed specialists who are impacted by new licensing standards to be granted a licence in certain situations;
- Where an applicant meets the requirements set out in the College’s policy, provisional licences can now be issued for General Practice Locums to learners enrolled in a postgraduate specialty training program at the Faculty of Medicine of Memorial University; and
- For new applicants, three courses that were formerly mandatory – “Writing Prescriptions”, “Safe Prescribing”, and “Personal Health Information Act” – are now recommended. The course “Providing Safe Healthcare for Indigenous Patients in Newfoundland and Labrador” remains mandatory.
Health Accord NL was created in November 2020 to reimagine the health care system to best deliver services to people in communities across the province. It was mandated to deliver a 10-year Health Accord with short, medium, and long-term goals for a health care system that better meets the current needs of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. A number of the initiatives are already underway, with additional recommendations announced as part of Budget 2022.
Details on these initiatives can be found in the backgrounder below.
Quotes
“While recruitment and retention challenges are not unique to Newfoundland and Labrador, our government continues to find innovative means to help increase our health care workforce. Continued collaboration with stakeholders like the College of Physicians and Surgeons is integral, as together we continue to work towards better health outcomes for the residents of our province.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
“We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with the Minister and the Department of Health and Community Services. The College continues to review all licensing standards and processes to optimize efficiency and advance standards for the current landscape, while ensuring that physicians who are licensed have the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to provide safe and quality medical care to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Dr. Tanis Adey, CEO & Registrar
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador
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Media contacts
Tina Coffey
Health and Community Services
709-729-6554, 687-9903
tcoffey@gov.nl.ca
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador
709-726-8546
cpsnl@cpsnl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Recent Measures to Address the Shortage of Health Care Professionals
- A one-year pilot program to help entice retired family physicians to come back to the workforce.
- Committed to a suite of measures to expand the supply of health care professionals:
- Creation of new collaborative community team clinics;
- Increase in virtual care services to assist with the provision of urgent care; and
- Commitment to further increase the number of graduates from Licensed Practical Nursing Programs by 40 per cent and Personal Care Attendant Programs by 20 per cent.
- Two new programs launched to support family doctors in the province and help improve access to primary health care:
- The New Family Physician Income Guarantee initiative guarantees a minimum income equivalent to that of a salaried family physician to new family doctors who bill on a fee for service basis and open a family practice clinic – or join an established clinic – for the first two years of their practice. This will ease some of the uncertainty associated with the business aspects of opening a clinic by increasing financial certainty. Funding recipients will be required to enter into a two-year return-in-service agreement with government.
- The Family Practice Start-Up Program will provide $150,000 to new family practice physicians who open a family practice clinic, or join an existing family practice in the community, and stay in the practice for five years. Recipients who are approved for both programs must sign a five-year return-in-service agreement with government. Additionally, both programs will be linked to establishing a patient roster in the community, as well as the provision of after-hours care. This is the highest incentive offered to family physicians at this time in Atlantic Canada.
- Initiatives announced in March 2022 to address the challenges facing nurses in the province, including the nursing think tank; Requests for proposals for core staffing review, health human resource plan and workforce research; and an Internationally Educated Nurses Bursary.
- A new Assistant Deputy Minister for the recruitment and retention office has been hired and the office has been established within the Department of Health and Community Services.
- An additional five undergraduate seats have been added to the Memorial University’s medical School for Newfoundland and Labrador students.
- Launched Extraordinary Every Day, a health care campaign aimed at recruiting and retaining health care professionals.
- Staffing in the regional health authorities has been enhanced to further support recruitment and retention efforts.
- A number of financial incentives and employee supports have been implemented to help address the immediate nursing workforce challenges and help stabilize the workforce.
- Compensation rates for covering emergency rooms in smaller rural health centres (category B facilities) have been increased as a temporary measure until October 31, 2022 to help retain existing physicians at these sites, as well as to attract other locum physicians during periods of vacancy. As well, in Labrador, Category A rates were increased in the last MOA.
- $30,000 provided to Eastern Health to support students in the Radiation Therapy Program for each of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. This will double Eastern Health’s capacity to support students in the program.