GUELPH POLITICAST #398 – Doctors Wanted

By the numbers $43,335 per year for two years is probably the smallest ask of this budget cycle, but the work that money will fund is actually pretty important: Attracting new doctors to Guelph and Wellington. For many of us that live here, Guelph is a destination that sells itself, but the competition for a small number of new doctors is fierce and Guelph-Wellington is one of the last municipalities to have a formal plan to get them. Is it too late for us to get in the game?

On budget delegation night at council last week, Dr. Ian Digby explained that accounting for growth, Guelph is going to need 35 new doctors over the next decade and Wellington County is going to need 25, and that's in addition to the usual turnover. In Guelph and Wellington, there's 254,247 health card holders, and 21 per cent of them right now do not have a family physician. It’s easy to see that a need is there.

Several area communities have had formal doctor recruitment efforts going for years,  local governments and chambers of commerce combining their efforts, or leaning on the local medical school like in London and Hamilton. So what does Guelph and Wellington have to offer? Dr. Digby, who’s an emergency physician at Guelph General Hospital, president of the hospital’s Professional Staff Association for 2023-24 and Physician Lead for Guelph Wellington Physician Association has some answers.

Dr. Digby will talk about Guelph’s desirability as a home for new doctors, the nature of the competition with other regional recruitment efforts, and the things that Guelph can offer that other places may not. He also talk about the players in the recruitment strategy and the challenge of finding general practitioners when so many med school grads are specializing. Also, he will talk about how the recruitment strategy can be used for future staffing needs, like at a second Guelph hospital.

So let's talk about how we bring more doctors to the area on this week's Guelph Politicast!

You can check out the letter attached to Dr. Ian Digby's delegation from the November 15 council meeting on the City’s website here. You can learn more about the Guelph Wellington Ontario Health Team at their website here, and you can learn more about Guelph Wellington Physician Association at their website here. 

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Image credit: "Visiting the Family Doctor" by Norman Rockwell, featured in the Saturday Evening Post April 12, 1947.