Doctors can‚t give their practice away

For sale: family practice in rural Nova Scotia. Asking price: absolutely nothing.

Even when the price seems to be right, it remains extremely difficult to convince family physicians to set up shop in rural Nova Scotia. Dr. Susan Hergett and her husband, Dr. Brian Burke, recently closed their practice in Canning, a 2-hour drive from Halifax. In an effort to ensure that their 2000 patients had a family doctor, they offered to hand over their practice and all its equipment free of charge. They ran ads with the Medical Society of Nova Scotia and in journals like CMAJ. They even emailed every family medicine resident in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In the end, Burke, who is doing his residency in psychiatry at Dalhousie University, and Hergett, who is taking some time off to spend with their 2 children, received only 2 replies. There were no takers.

So, says Hergett, the practice and the equipment were sold for $1 to the Canning Village Commission, which is continuing the town‚s search for a family physician. Ironically, she notes, King‚s County, where her practice was located, has always been considered a favourable spot to practise. The scenic town is relatively close to both Halifax and Wolfville, a university town that has an active cultural community.

If financial incentives, a favourable location and a thriving practice aren‚t enough to convince doctors to set up shop, what will work? The answer may be absolutely nothing, says Dr. Louise Cloutier, president of the Medical Society of Nova Scotia. Cloutier is convinced that the key to recruitment and retention is to meet the needs of a new breed of doctor.

The society receives more than 400 phone calls a month from Nova Scotians looking for a family physician. The province estimates that it now has more than 40 vacancies for FPs, and Hergett says the shortage ”is just starting to hit.” —