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Lac La Biche doctors reverse resignation plan as GOA walks back some changes

Community leaders say
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Lac La Biche doctors say they will reverse their plans to resign from hospital duties after Alberta Health walked back some planned funding changes.

Lac La Biche - Lac La Biche doctors have halted plans to resign from hospital duties. 

Last week, 10 doctors from the Associated Medical Clinic, including W. J. Cadzow Hospital's chief of staff Dr. Richard Birkill, announced plans to leave their hospital duties because of the payscale and billing changes being implemented by the provincial government. They said the changes and cuts would make the balance between clinic work and hospital shifts unsustainable. In a letter signed by all 10 doctors and printed in last week's edition of the Lakeland This Week, the physicians  said their resignations would take place in July, after what they believe will be the busiest part of the local COVID-19 response.

On Monday morning, however, the doctors released a statement saying they would continue their hospital shifts.

"We are reversing our resignation notice," Birkill told the POST on Monday, citing some good faith demonstrated by provincial officials in recent days. "The have announced they are reversing most of the major cuts that they were going to do."

The decision to leave hospital duties came after the provincial government failed to work out  a management agreement with the Alberta Medical Association and walked away from mediation talks. Provincial government members also passed legislation that doctors said would affect not only their incomes, but levels of service. The changes affected billing for patient and doctor visits, medical insurance subsidies, on-call pay for hospital shifts and access to pay allowances for remote and rural doctors.

But in the week since Lac La Biche doctors — and physicians from three other Alberta communities —  announced their plans to walk away from their hospital rounds, provincial leaders have gone back on their decision.

"There's some progression," Birkill told the POST, explaining that the reversal of the planned funding changes will make it possible for doctors to fulfil all of their responsibilities. "They walked back on the things that made our practice unsustainable."

We are very pleased to announce that we will be withdrawing the resignation of our hospital privileges.

Due to the recent amendments and changes by the government of the schedule of medical benefits, we can continue to provide uninterrupted medical care to all of our patients. There will be no change in the way we provide care, and all services will remain unchanged. This includes, but is not limited to, continued obstetrical care to deliver babies, anesthetic and surgical coverage, 24-hour emergency room coverage in the Lac la Biche hospital as well as continued office visits at the Associated Medial Clinic.
 

We would like to sincerely thank all who have supported us through this difficult time to ensure current and future high quality medical care to our community and beyond.

Whether it was by direct or indirect action, a note or even a voice of support, thank you to all, as the list is just too long to thank each individually.
With the new changes we are hopeful to expand our services even more in the future. We now collectively stand stronger as a community because of you.

In your service, The Doctors of Lac la Biche

 

Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi was relieved to hear the local doctors had reversed their decision. He now hopes the province and provincial medical officials can find a compromise.

"I believe we should continue the push for those groups to get together and push for a master agreement," he said at Tuesday's Lac La Biche County council meeting.

Councillor George L'Heureux said the doctors' news offered a rosier outlook on future discussions.

"I think if we all keep the pressure on, we will come to an agreement and everyone will walk away happy," he said.

At today's meeting, councillor Lorin Tkachuk — who at the council meeting a week before said he was disappointed local doctors had "pulled the trigger first" by announcing their resignation plan, and went on to say he hoped the local physicians would "step back and see what the community has done for them here" — was appreciative of the work the rural government caucus had done behind the scenes.

"I would like to see a letter sent on the mayor's letterhead to the rural caucus — I feel they were instrumental in getting this done," Tkachuk said today adding that a similar 'thank you' note should be sent to Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro as well. 

Proud fight

Mayor Moghrabi is proud of the community's support on the healthcare issue. Thanking residents, the regional health board, local medical officials, other communities, his own council and provincial officials, he said it has been a good 'fight' that touches all corners of the province.

"It has been a team effort. Lac La Biche County carried the flag and other people came on-board," he said today. "We are fighting for all the rural areas and all the small urban areas."

Local doctors say that while this part of the fight has been completed, there is still more that has to happen. Not every proposed change by the government to physicians services was changed, Birkill said, but doctors in Lac La Biche have agreed that the most recently presented plan is workable.

"We work as a group and make decisions all together ... and even though there are still some cuts they are making, we are willing to live with those cuts," he said. "What we have on paper —today — is enough to get us to carry on and remain sustainable."

BIrkill and the local doctors say they hold out hope that the AMA and provincial government can reach a formal agreement.

A lawsuit by the AMA citing a breach of contract against the provincial government  for leaving negotiations and legislating changes to doctors' services is still before the courts.

 


Rob McKinley

About the Author: Rob McKinley

Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
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