Will arbitration settlement aid MD retention in Newfoundland?
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* Donalee Moulton

Six months after a 17-day doctors strike crippled medical services in Newfoundland and Labrador, an arbitration board has awarded physicians an additional $54.2 million over the next 3 years. Although the settlement will place the province's doctors on almost the same financial footing as their East Coast colleagues by the time it ends, it is $30 million less than the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) had been seeking. “We didn't get everything we wanted,” acknowledged NLMA President John Haggie, “[but] this is the single largest dollar award to physicians in the province's history.”

In the first year of the contract, the province will pay an additional $27 million to physicians. Finding that money will not require cuts in any existing health services, said Finance Minister Joan Marie Aylward. During the original negotiations last year before the arbitrator was appointed, the province was offering an additional $44 million over 3 years, while the doctors were asking for $56 million. The NLMA upped its ante to $80 million in arbitration, while the government increased its offer to $50 million.

The arbitration board also awarded an increase of $7.7 million to salaried physicians, which translates into an 18% raise, as well as $5 million to boost on-call payments and $1 million to improve after-hours emergency coverage in St. Johns. “This decision will, for the first time, give doctors compensation for being on call,” said Haggie.

He said it is not clear if the new package will improve recruitment and retention. “Ask me on Sept. 30, 2005.”

Other physicians have their doubts. John Kielty, a GP in Deer Lake, told CBC Radio that the award is not enough to entice rural doctors to stay. “I think doctors are going to start looking elsewhere.”

There is one significant nonfinancial benefit to the new deal — doctors and the government are talking again. “The lines of communication are open, which is a major improvement,” said Haggie. He said a physician liaison committee has been established with government that brings NLMA presidents from the past 3 years together with the deputy minister of health and other senior officials. — *Donalee Moulton*, Halifax