The NLMA has a new collective agreement, which includes a number of items to address doctor shortages in the province.

The Medical Association has been vocal in outlining its concerns about some of the impediments to attracting and keeping doctors in the province.

The latest collective agreement, ratified earlier this week, includes $32 to $36 million dollars in increased spending for physician services, and the creation of a new blended capitation model that the Medical Association says should help the province retain family medicine graduates by allowing them to practice in a model that is consistent with the way they were trained.

That, according to the NLMA, will help promote comprehensive care, more time spent with patients and allow family doctors to work in teams with other health care providers.

The new agreement also includes a new remoteness bonus for remote sites, as well as a new provincial locum recruitment program to help improve retention by providing dependable locum support.

NLMA President Dr. Susan MacDonald believes the new agreement will make the province a more attractive place for medical graduates to live and work.

Still Issues That Need to be Addressed

The NLMA says in the meantime, the agreement only brings the province’s physicians up to Atlantic Canadian parity.

While the deal was ratified, only 72.5 per cent of members voted in favour of agreement.

MacDonald says doctors have been without a contract since 2017, and many still carried strong reservations about the latest agreement.

She says for many doctors, the fact that there was no retroactive pay, despite rising inflation rates over that length of time was a “hard pill to swallow.”

MacDonald adds that many also felt disrespected by the Minister of Health and based on some of the comments made, they felt they weren’t valued.