CENTRE WELLINGTON – After a few years of grappling with staffing challenges at Groves hospital, senior management is calling on the Township of Centre Wellington for help.
Centre Wellington council will consider directing staff to form a working group to investigate potential incentives to help attract more staff to work at Groves, which is in need of more nurses, primary care, emergency department and hospitalist physicians, plus surgeons, according to a memo by Groves CEO Angela Stanley sent to township staff.
In a phone interview, Stanley said it was hard to put into numbers the state of staffing but noted there’s been a number of staff who have changed jobs and have or will retire soon which is putting a strain on staffing at the hospital and impacting the number of family doctors in the region.
She explained the local health care system is having to change the model of how physicians have typically worked in more rural areas where they handle multiple roles.
“What we are finding is that physicians don’t typically want to do what we’ve done historically, meaning they do primary care, they do emergency, they do inpatient management and obstetrics, they don’t really want to practice that way,” Stanley said.
“But with the growth of the community and even just a different practice philosophy for physicians coming out of school, they tend to want to specialize a bit more than being that very generalist approach.”
Right now the entire health system is in a difficult position when it comes to labour, Stanley explained, with a lot of vacancies and not enough people to fill them.
When it comes to recruiting staff, Stanley said the Centre Wellington area in theory should be more attractive than other rural or northern areas due to its proximity to a major urban area.
“However, the northern communities are able to offer incentives through the ministry to help support relocation for physicians, and we don’t have the opportunity to take advantage of those programs because of our location,” Stanley said.
A lack of available housing is another major challenge for healthcare recruitment. Stanley said having stable accommodations available for students, residents and physicians coming in on a transient basis.
“They really need somewhere to come and stay and without that stable housing, it’s not a motivator for them to come if they’re having to look for a place to stay,” Stanley said.
Because of these issues, Groves is asking the township for support in an effort to attract more staff to come work for them.
The memo proposes finding a solution to the accommodation issue and suggests some incentives such as discounted or free office space, community packages with access to local services and entertainment, and a stipend for a commitment to working in the community.
Stanley stressed these are simply early ideas being kicked around and wants to work collaboratively with partners like the township to come up with ideas to attract more healthcare staff.
While healthcare recruitment is not a mandated service for municipalities to provide, Stanley said the township has assisted in efforts in the past financially.
A report from CAO Dan Wilson also noted this, with $20,000 included in the operating budget each year to assist with expenses related to any recruitment initiatives. The township also in the past provided subsidized office space at a township owned building in Fergus until 2020.
The report recommends forming a working group to investigate potential incentives that could be provided with township assistance with the group members made up of:
- Groves hospital staff
- Township staff
- County staff
- Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce
This will be discussed at a council meeting on Monday.
Full report and memo by Stanley can be found here.
