The president and CEO of Quinte Health is happy to have Belleville and other local communities helping to recruit doctors and other health care professionals to the area.
Stacey Daub told Belleville council Monday that the demand for care at its four local hospitals has never been higher and the organization needs all the help it can get from community partners to create more care options in the community and to help recruit staff.
Daub says the increased demand on hospitals was caused by population growth but was also caused by this area having more older people than average and many more people with chronic/complex health issues than in other regions.
“For the province of Ontario when you take high risk characteristics that see people being higher users of health care, the general population of Ontario about 16% of it is high risk where the population across Hastings Prince Edward is about 72%.”
Because of the area’s growing and aging population and the number of people with complex/chronic health problems the demand for care beds at local hospitals has grown by 70% recently.
Daub says about 100 medical care beds are now either being under-funded or not funded at all by the provincial government.
In response to a question from Councillor Paul Carr, Daub said the Ministry of Health is aware of the Quinte region’s unique population and health care needs.
“I think it’s fair to say that there’s a lot going on in health care right now but I understand Quinte Health is at the top of the list so I’m very optimistic about that.”
“Some of the trends we’re seeing, so one is a work-life balance, no different than most industries. People are making choices about not only how long they work but how much they work and so we are seeing some groups choose to work less or maybe to have more diversity in their work and that’s had an impact on their availability.”
Daub says Quinte Health has had good luck in signing up so-called”locums”, doctors who sign on temporarily to try out a hospital system and area.
Many of them have joined the permanent staff.
Daub said the natural attractions of the Quinte region which she termed “paradise” were a big drawing card in recruitment efforts.
