The physician responsible for recruiting doctors for a large portion of New Brunswick has himself been recruited — by an Ontario hospital.
The irony is not lost on Dr. Bob Beveridge, the former vice-president of health informatics and medical administration for the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation (AHSC) in Saint John. He moved to Brockville, Ont., this summer. "Some will interpret this [to mean] the system is in danger,” he admits, but “it's not intended at all to be a reflection of that."
He says he moved to Ontario so he can practise as a general internist and spend more time with his wife and 4 children. Free time was a luxury at the AHSC, which comprises 12 hospitals and health centres in southwestern New Brunswick. "I got myself into a situation where there was a seemingly endless number of meetings,” he says. “I felt I lost all balance."
Convincing doctors to come and to stay in New Brunswick has been a difficult job in recent years, although the province has taken several steps to solve the problem, including buying 10 additional medical school places at Memorial University in Newfoundland. Beveridge says the physician-retention problem has been due, in part, to ongoing disputes with the provincial government. "There have been some very serious problems with regard to trust. There are times when the government has been very confrontational."
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Donalee Moulton
Halifax