A Stephenville doctor says the health care system owes him $200K. Without it, he will leave

Neal Patterson spends a few hours at home in Corner Brook in the morning before driving down the highway west to Stephenville for work, where he spends 80 hours a week at a family care clinic and hospital.

But he said that he is not being given proper compensation.

Patterson signed a contract with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) with the promise of incentives. bonus he said navIt came to fruition.

“The message I’m getting from the government is that they don’t care about family doctors and they’re not willing to retain us,” Patterson told CBC News.

Originally from Ontario, he came to NL for his residency training and fell in love with rural Newfoundland. He signed a two-year salary contract and works with the Family Care Clinic in Stephenville. They are also expected to cover hospital and emergency rooms on a regular basis.

“I’m tired and exhausted,” he said.

Patterson says he was actively recruited to work for the province and Nearly $200,000 promised in bonuses For things like serving the community, becoming part of the family care team in Stephenville, and relocating to a west coast city.

He said that he also expected a salary increase after working for a year but he did not get that either.

The government has offered Incentive of up to $200,000 for doctors Who will come and work in one of 23 family care teams that are currently in development across the province.

She has spent countless hours and thousands in legal fees over the past year trying to understand why she hasn’t received the money.

Patterson said, “I have 10 years of post-secondary education and many physicians actually have more years. And it’s expensive. Many physicians have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. I was quite eager to take advantage of these bonuses and make a dent in my student loans.”

He has made repeated inquiries to the NLHS and the government regarding the bonus, but continues to receive sporadic, mixed messages from the health authority, stating that he is not classified as a full-time physician with the family care team due to the time he spends in the emergency room and hospital.

He said, “The same people who are depriving me of these incentives are the same people asking me to get admitted to hospital if needed. I can only be in one place at a time. And sometimes you have to decide where it is most important to be during the day.”

“I’m very confused as to why it’s causing so much headache.”

Patterson said he often has to stay in the hospital because of the lack of doctors in the area. His contract lists all of his duties as a full-time physician who serves the emergency, chemotherapy and operating rooms.

He said he would fulfill his contract, but he was willing to leave the province and find a better-paying job in another province.

Patterson said NLHS advised him not to speak to the media about HThe situation is. He was feeling tired and frustrated and decided to speak anyway.

Following multiple requests for information and interviews, NLHS was unable to reach CBC News by publication time.

Patterson’s The president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association is all too familiar with this plight Cynthia Slade, Who says the government’s recruitment and retention efforts are failing, especially since the departments have been united under one authority.

Cynthia Slade said she regularly hears from doctors who haven’t received their promised bonuses and who can’t even find the right people to contact to inquire about it.

“It really reflects the fact that we really need a more streamlined recruitment and retention service here that we don’t have right now,” Slade said.

While campaigning last fall, the Liberal Party stepped up its recruitment efforts and said it had recruited more than 160 doctors to the province by 2023.

Slade said these numbers do not accurately reflect the number of doctors who have left.

“It’s one thing to attract them here, it’s another thing to keep them here. If people are experiencing frustration and banging their heads against the wall, they’re not going to stop,” he said.

“If they don’t feel valued, if they don’t feel respected, if they don’t feel like they’re wanted, they won’t stay.”

Slade said the province’s rural areas are at risk of being ruined if more doctors leave.

At his family care clinic in Stephenville, Patterson said four physicians have resigned in the past three months.

“We’re down everywhere in the province and it’s well known among the community. I think people should question why people are leaving the province,” Patterson said.

At this point, he’s hoping for an apology from the health authority and the cash incentive he was promised, but he doesn’t expect that to happen.

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