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Physician retention and recruitment strong in Melfort

Jan 16, 2018 | 1:39 PM

The City of Melfort is having great success in both retaining and recruiting doctors.

Most recently, Dr. Alexander Watts opened his own practice out of the Wellness Centre and is accepting new patients effective immediately.

Jessica Watt who is the recruitment and retention coordinator for the Saskatchewan Health Authority in the region said the process to hire doctors starts when students are in school and during their residencies..

“We have residents that come through Melfort all the time and our physicians are fabulous self recruiters as well,” Watt told northeastNOW.

Part of Watt’s recruitment strategy is she personally takes in a local activity of interest with potential physicians. She also started a slo-pitch team for the doctors to play on in the summer months. Watt said finding a work-life balance is the key. She said the agreement physicians work under in Melfort allows that.

“When you have that many physicians in a community your on-call and time away from your family is reduced so that contributes to a real good work-life balance,” she said.

Melfort based doctors work on a “fee for service” agreement meaning the practices are operated like a personal business. Doctors set their own office hours as well. Saskatchewan requires rural based physicians to work on-call in emergency rooms and practice in a clinic. Watt said the doctors themselves provide her with suggestions when it comes to recruitment.

“If the doctors really want a physician here they give me direction on how to accomplish that. We have a very close relationship,” Watt said.

Watt attends conferences through out the year to share ideas and initiatives with other recruitment officers. She said her focus is on the region covering the former Kelsey Trail Health Region. Her office is working with Tisdale and Nipawin to assist those communities in hiring doctors.

“We share our tactics and our methods on what we find successful and not successful,” Watt said.

Watt added the newly opened Wellness Centre is another benefit to physicians who can now work in their practice and cover on-call shifts under the same roof.

 

Clark.stork@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @ClarkStork