Doctor recruitment hits goal; waiting list continues

By Jennifer Bowman

(Trenton, Ont. 09/22/11) Dr Glenn Griffin has been practicing as a doctor at the Brighton Quinte West Family Health Centre for five years. He said wait times have reduced significantly, but are not yet a thing of the past. Photo by Jennifer Bowman

Quinte West has reached its goal for the doctor recruitment program but that doesn’t mean waiting lists are a thing of the past.

Dr. Glenn Griffin has been practising at the Quinte West Medical Centre for the last five years.

Griffin said he is taking on new patients, but he can still only accept five or six new patients a week. Most people are now facing waiting times of about six months to get a family doctor, he said.

That’s a marked decrease from five years ago when he began his practice at the clinic.

“I had patients who came in to see me who said, ‘I’ve been waiting six years to get a doctor’,” he said.

He said the doctor recruitment program has played a significant role in bringing down the waiting lists.

“Other than through this program, I don’t know of any other new doctors that have come to the Trenton area since I came,” said Griffin.

The doctor recruitment program began in Quinte West about three years ago. It has now reached its goal to fill the medical centre with doctors. The final recruit, Nicholas Martin, is doing his residency at Queen’s University, so it will be another two years before he sets up his practice at the clinic.

Griffin said they would need more doctors by then.

“Within the next two or three years we’ll need another two or three doctors, depending on how big a practice they’re willing to take on, just because of retirements,” said Griffin.

Quinte West Mayor John Williams said council is planning for that. The recruitment fund is depleted right now because of the new recruits, but they will continue to build it so they can recruit more doctors in the future, as they’re needed, he said.

“For our support, they have to become part of the Family Health Team, and they have to operate out of that centre,” said Williams.

Griffin said even though the health centre is full, new doctors would be encouraged to become part of the team. Being part of the team, even from a different location in Quinte West, would give them access to a network of services such as social workers and dieticians.

Griffin said one of the difficulties is some of the doctors filling the spots at the centre are not working there fulltime.

“It’s partly the younger generation of doctors, they’re not prepared to work as hard as us old guys,” said Griffin, laughing.

Williams said the doctor recruitment program in Quinte West began partly through peer pressure.

“We got into it because Belleville had got into it in a big way, so we had to get into the game. So we offered somewhat the same program,” said Williams.

Quinte West offers $100,000 over five years to new doctors, as well as a facility to begin their practice in.

They offer less money than Belleville, but Williams said what makes Quinte West unique is the medical centre it offers. There are still operating costs, but doctors don’t have to find an office or staff. It’s also conveniently placed right beside the hospital. By the time you find all that it would probably make the difference in what the municipality pays them, he said.

Despite the competition, doctors help each other out on both sides.

Nicholas Martin is the fifth recruit through the program. He said one of Belleville’s recruits was a drawing force for him.

He came here under the guidance of Dr. Jonathan Kerr, said Martin. He’s known Kerr for years and heard Kerr talk about the program a lot.

Williams said Kerr has been a big help to both Belleville’s and Quinte West’s recruitment program.

“He was very instrumental in the beginning to bring a lot of the recruits, because a lot of the people that were in his class that graduated actually followed him,” he said.

Some went to Belleville, others like Martin, moved to Quinte West. Williams said the two areas worked together.

They were both doing it together, and they’re both filled up, said Williams.

“Both have been very successful,” he said.

For a number of recruits, such as Martin, they’re coming back home.

“Growing up in Belleville, I know a lot about the city of Quinte West, and there’s many opportunities here, not only professionally, but personally as well,” he said.

Martin is moving here with his wife Shannon and his son Jax. For Martin, setting up practice here is a long-term commitment.

“With this commitment I’ve agreed to a five year return of service and after that I look forward to completing my practice here in Quinte West,” said Martin.

That’s the future Williams said they looked at when they were creating the program.

“I guess we looked at it as an investment in the long range future of the community. Without doctors it’s hard to attract industry, it’s hard to keep people in your area,” he said.