New doctor registry cuts barriers to practice across Atlantic provinces, says regulatory college – Halifax | 24CA News
The Atlantic premiers are promising to create a regional physician registry to make it simpler for physicians to apply all through the 4 provinces.
However, they are saying it’s solely a small piece of the puzzle in relation to fixing the health-care system — and the regulatory physique overseeing Nova Scotia’s medical career agrees.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia says the brand new regional licensing register will assist minimize down on pink tape and paperwork.
“These physicians will indicate their willingness to be on the register, provide the necessary consent for the sharing of the information, and once on the register will essentially be fully licenced in all four provinces,” explains Registrar and CEO Dr. Gus Grant.
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He expects the measure might assist ship higher high quality of look after sufferers, however doubtless gained’t have a huge impact on doctor numbers.
“If it means that once a year an emergency room – say in Amherst – is not closed because a physician from Moncton at the last second can come down and pinch-hit,” he says, “that’s an enormous effect on the people in Amherst.”
The new physician registry was introduced after a gathering of the Council of Atlantic Premiers in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island on Monday. The Atlantic premiers say physicians can journey already, however this can enable them to quickly pitch in to assist handle health-care gaps among the many provinces, together with overlaying a physician’s trip.
“They can get a license in as many provinces as they want,” defined Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. “It’s just an onerous, complicated process that they wouldn’t follow to do a locum in one province for a couple of weeks in the summer. But this will make it easier for that mobility, and it’s the first step in a bigger discussion that has to happen.”
P.E.I.’s premier says it gained’t repair all the things, however it will likely be a assist to the ailing health-care system.
“Nothing that we do on health is a magic bullet that will just miraculously fix everything,” says Dennis King. “But I think this is just one more small thing that keeps us moving forward.”

Nova Scotia’s Liberal Health Critic says the transfer gained’t cut back the household physician waitlist, which at present sits at greater than 133,000 folks.
“The way to fix health-care is to bring more family doctors in and not to be poaching and to be taking from other provinces,” says Brendan Maguire. “It’s a bit of window dressing.”
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Grant isn’t so positive provinces will pull from the pool of docs in Nova Scotia.
“Canadian Medical Licensing standards are high,” he says. “The physicians who are practicing in any of the provinces choose to practice there. So I think it’s unlikely will see significant movement.”
He says the endeavour is likely to be particularly interesting to new docs who wish to discover completely different communities earlier than settling down for his or her apply.
Grant hopes the premiers hold a detailed watch on the initiative to trace its affect.
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In the meantime, the president of the New Brunswick Medical Society issued an announcement saying she’s inspired by the brand new register.
“Increased physician mobility is an important component in addressing health human resource issues throughout the Atlantic provinces and across Canada,” says Dr. Michèle Michaud.
“The new registry will provide greater flexibility for physicians while improving access to care for patients. We continue to support the Canadian Medical Association’s efforts to realize a pan-Canadian licensure model, and this is a positive step in that direction.”
The Atlantic registry is anticipated to launch on May 1.
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