BRUCEDALE – Amidst widespread doctor shortages, two experienced physicians are considering providing primary care in Rockwood.
And Guelph/Eramosa council has agreed to fork out up to $60,000 to entice the doctors to join the East Wellington Family Health Team’s (EWFHT) Rockwood clinic.
In January, Rockwood physician Dr. Andrew Martin retired, leaving 1,300 people in Guelph/Eramosa and the surrounding area to find a new doctor.
Another two EWFHT doctors, Dr. Kamakshi Ganesan and Dr. Meredith Barakat, have recently left the health team’s Erin clinic.
For a year and a half, EWFHT recruitment efforts have been unsuccessful, and about 2,000 patients had to be de-rostered, stated EWFHT executive director Kim Bell.
Two experienced physicians are currently considering relocating to Rockwood, Bell stated, but they’re both concerned about facing a salary gap in the early months of the move.
Township support
Doctors’ salaries are tied to how many patients they support.
When doctors relocate it can take time to build their patient roster up to the number they supported before moving, and during this time they face a wage decline.
To ease these concerns, Guelph/Eramosa council has agreed, in principal, to provide a maximum of $30,000 to each physician, to compensate for any financial shortfall.
“It’s almost like a parachute,” said councillor Corey Woods during a Guelph/Eramosa council meeting on April 2, during which the decision was unanimously approved.
“To say ‘Okay, if we come and it takes a little bit longer, you’ll top us up. But it may be a scenario that they don’t need a top up.”
The “top-up” money would come from the Rockwood Hydro Fund and the township’s rate stabilization fund, meaning “it doesn’t come off the tax payer,” Woods said.
“It’s money that we had in a fund for this purpose.”
Mayor Chris White explained there is “about $600,000 in the Hydro Fund and almost $1,000,000 in the rate stabilization fund, so we aren’t putting either of those at risk.
“What we are doing is making sure we have a community worth living in.”
Jurisdictional responsibilities
“I recognize it’s a little bit outside of our wheelhouse,” White told the Advertiser.
But “for something as fundamental as doctors, if there’s an opportunity to bring doctors to the community we should step up and make that happen.”
White said the township’s money will help to fill gaps in federal and provincial health care funding, and he notes it’s a simple way to provide support, particularly compared with the lengths other communities sometimes go to bring doctors in.
“Some places up north, they give houses,” he added.
Councillor Bruce Dickieson expressed concern that if the township “starts taking stuff on that technically isn’t our responsibility … eventually we are going to have roads we can’t afford to fix and infrastructure and various other things.
“I’m not against this, don’t get me wrong. But I mean this is kind of a dangerous path to go down.”
“I don’t disagree with you, Bruce,” White said.
But he added, “I’m not gonna just say ‘well then let’s not do it because the feds aren’t doing their job.’”
It’s not the first time Guelph/Eramosa has stepped outside typical jurisdictional responsibilities, noted councillor Mark Bouwmeester.
He specifically mentioned school parking lots and busing, as well as helping EWFHT initially set up the Rockwood clinic.
‘“This is something that we need, regardless of who is technically responsible for it,” Bouwmeester said.
“Because at the end of the day we are talking about people in our community.”
Bouwmeester said he would like to see the County of Wellington also provide support, as county residents will also benefit from two new doctors joining the local health team.
White said the County of Wellington and the City of Guelph both put $50,000 aside in the last budget to help with doctor recruitment.
“So it would be my goal to go back to the county and find out where that $50,000 is going and see if I can’t capture some of that to go towards this $60,000,” the mayor said.
Bell noted doctors who have recently graduated are eligible for the Ontario government’s Income Stabilization Program (ISP) which provides a similar income subsidy for up to a year.
But the two physicians EWFHT is currently negotiating with are experienced physicians and therefore ineligible for ISP.
The financial support from Guelph/Eramosa is an alternate way to provide that income stability.
Salary shortfalls
The size of the subsidy provided by the township will depend on how long it takes for doctors’ rosters to fill, and White said it’s not expected to go as far as $60,000.
“We may not get there. We may end up only spending $20,000, and getting $10,000 from the county,” he said.
Bell said that,“Given that we have only just recently de-rostered the previous doctor’s patients, and given the very high demand for local primary care, we do not anticipate having any difficulty quickly rostering two new physicians up to their desired practice levels – an estimated 1,300 per doctor.”
She added, “We have a very expeditious process ready to execute which would result in them reaching income stability within the first two to three months.
“Municipal funds would only be used for shortfalls within those early weeks.”
Dr. Martin’s former patients as well as other Guelph/Eramosa residents will be prioritized to roster with the new doctors, but patients from anywhere in the surrounding area will be eligible to join the practice.
“A clause will be included in the contract for any new physician taking advantage of this subsidy, requiring repayment of [township] funds should they leave their position within two years,” Bell noted.
Community’s lifeblood
Doctor shortages go beyond Guelph/Eramosa, with officials across the county, province and country reporting recruitment challenges.
“It’s a real hustle to try to get doctors into your community,” White noted. “This doctor recruitment problem is universal.”
Woods said, “To have a vibrant community, you need to have doctors.”
And Bouwmeester added, “If this [funding] helps land two doctors in Rockwood, it would be a game changer.”
“Doctors are critical to community,” White said. “They’re the lifeblood.”