Press release

PREM 2007
(Regional Medical Staffging Plan – Specialists)

Medical Staffing Management: a Faulty System

Montreal, February 22, 2007– “It is high time the Minister of Health and Social Services clearly told the public that the shortage of physicians cannot be resolved before 2015,” declared Dr. Gaétan Barrette, President of the Fédération des spécialistes médicaux du Québec (the FMSQ) and Dr. Martin Bernier, President of the Fédération des médecins résidents du Québec (the FMRQ). “Medical staffing plans cannot solve all the problems created by the shortage between now and then. The government should therefore let the public know that many of the situations we have today will last for a long time”.

The Presidents consider that the way medical staffing plans are currently managed leads to far different results from those intended. In some cases, access to care, the quality of the training received by future physicians, and research are actually hindered. “In addition, university hospitals need to recruit more doctors to provide patient care on a local, regional and supraregional basis,” emphasized Dr. Barrette.

Quotas and freeze on medical staffing in hospitals Some specialties are now experiencing a very real crisis. Yet, since 2003, Health and Social Services has tightened the rules governing practice in university hospital centres (particularly with regard to psychiatry) so that access can be improved in the other regions. But, despite the restrictions, goals have still not been met because there are too few graduates to meet needs.

“It is obvious that since the critical situation in which we find ourselves will last for some time, the government and federations must together find a way to manage medical staffing plans so that the worst problems can be rmedied. The FMSQ has always done this and will continue to do so,” continued Dr. Barrette. “It must be done through negotiations that are fair to all and be based on clearly defined procedures to be observed by both parties,” he added.

According to the two medical federations, the government has restricted the number of positions in university hospital centres in response to political imperatives that require 50% of medical staffing to be in university and peripheral regions and 50% in intermediate and outlying regions. And even though the results are not convincing, it is still continuing this approach and in fact has added a further four specialties to its list.

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