Image of Dr. Brendan Carr from http://www.nshealth.ca/
The new President and CEO of Nova Scotia’s Health Authority took time to address some questions from reporters during a wide-ranging press conference on Tuesday morning.
The majority of questions for Dr. Brendan Carr were surrounding doctor recruitment and retention.
When asked about what shortcomings exist within the recruitment process that are creating a need to fund community groups to join the effort, Carr explained that the groups actually play an important role in luring doctors to Nova Scotia.
“So if you look at experience with recruitments where communities play an integral role in this process, there’s a much higher rate of both attracting and retaining physicians,” he explained. “So I think it’s the right way to do it – it isn’t a shortcoming.”
The NSHA provided an update for the Tri-Counties, noting that there’s been significant interest in our area.
The home on Vancouver Street that has been donated for doctor recruitment has a target to be ready in July.
There have been half a dozen site visits since October, with others planned in the coming months for both family medicine and specialists.
NSHA spokesperson John Gillis says that Yarmouth has recently had a psychiatrist start and a part-time hospitalist start.
In Shelburne, a part time family doctor will work with unattached patients starting this month.
There are also several potential hires pending.
