Measures Aimed at Stabilizing Rural Health Facilities; Officials Available to Media

In an effort to help stabilize pressures in rural health facilities, the Provincial Government, along with the Regional Health Authorities and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA), are working collaboratively to advance measures to alleviate pressures in rural emergency rooms (ERs).

The Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, along with the Honourable Tom Osborne, Minister of Health and Community Services and Dr. Kris Luscombe, President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, will be available to the media today (Thursday, July 14) at 11:00 a.m. to discuss these measures. The availability will take place outside in front of East Block, Confederation Building and will be livestreamed on Facebook.

A number of rural health care sites throughout the province have recently been experiencing temporary closures. The goal of the collaborative effort has been, and continues to be, to address the rural uniqueness of these facilities and develop a plan to help avoid emergency room interruptions. As such, compensation rates for covering the ERs in these smaller rural health centres have been increased as a temporary measure until October 31, 2022 to help retain existing physicians at these sites, as well as attract other locum physicians during periods of vacancy. It is anticipated that these measures will help stabilize services in these regions while other longer-term recruitment efforts are being implemented.

Minister Osborne held his first meeting with the NLMA this week and discussed a number of shared priorities aimed at improving patient care. Both parties have agreed to jointly develop a common agenda and continue to work collaboratively together.

As part of the ongoing efforts to address challenges within the health care system, a surgical task force was also recently established to look at the surgical backlog and provide a meaningful response. The task force will make recommendations to the Minister of Health and Community Services regarding innovative solutions to manage the surgical backlog in the province.

Health Accord NL was created in November 2020 to reimagine the health care system to best deliver services to people in communities across the province. It was mandated to deliver a 10-year Health Accord with short, medium, and long-term goals for a health care system that better meets the needs of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. A number of these initiatives are already underway, with additional recommendations announced as part of Budget 2022. Recruitment and retention pressures, particularly in rural areas of the province, were addressed as part of Health Accord NL.