The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) have signed a Shared Agenda to advance priorities within Family Medicine in the province. The Shared Agenda symbolizes the spirit of collaboration between both parties and a commitment to address critical issues related to the retention of the province’s family physician workforce.
The Shared Agenda outlines a set of high priority issues and projects including recruitment and retention, a health human resource forecast and plan, collaborative community care teams, and provision of emergency medicine services that will result in permanent and sustainable improvements to family medicine in Newfoundland and Labrador. It includes initiatives already started, initiatives the parties are currently collaborating on, and new solutions with target dates for completion in 2023.
These initiatives build on the improvements achieved in the Memorandum of Agreement between the Government and the NLMA that was signed in 2022, including Atlantic parity for physicians, as well as other recruitment initiatives recently announced by the Provincial Government.
More information on the Shared Agenda is available here.
Quotes
“Our government has been listening to the issues raised by physicians and we are actively working with the NLMA to make progress on multiple shared priorities. This Shared Agenda represents a commitment from government and the NLMA to focus our collective resources and energies in the same direction to improve physician recruitment and retention, and achieve better access to primary care for the people of the province.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services
“Family medicine services are one of the foundational pillars to our health care system. However, family medicine is struggling with physician shortages, and a workforce experiencing increased demands. We are also challenged by a growing number of unattached patients. Through this Shared Agenda, the NLMA will work collaboratively with Government to implement solutions that will support and strengthen comprehensive family practice in the Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Dr. Kris Luscombe
President, Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association
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