Fredericton Chamber Lays Groundwork for Collaborative Care -- David Alward

Alward promises health clinics for city, Oromocto
Published Wednesday July 7th, 2010
A4
By ADAM BOWIE
bowie.adam@dailygleaner.com

The Progressive Conservative Party says capital region residents won't have to wait long before two new collaborative health clinics are created, if they're elected to lead in the September election.

The party has promised to create two clinics: one in Oromocto and one on Fredericton's south side. The facilities would allow a variety of health-care professionals such as physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, dietitians, social workers, pharmacists and others to work together under one roof.

But Tory Leader David Alward said external factors make it impossible to put forward a time frame as to when those clinics would be ready.

"We need to be able to recruit physicians that believe in the model and want to be part of it. We need to recruit other health-care professionals as well. For me to say that six months after (the election) it'd be up and running, I think I would be disingenuous," he said during a recent interview.

"But my commitment is that we will immediately continue the work that is already started to ensure that model is able to go forward."

He said the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce's physician recruitment committee has completed a lot of legwork to get the area prepared for this kind of health-care facility.

"This region has provided a tremendous amount of leadership," he said.

"We know the business community, the health-care community has been out in front of this and so that's a key part of it. We obviously want to see it go as quickly as possible."

Alward said he'd like to see these types of clinics created in other parts of the province as part of his plan to assist the roughly 70,000 New Brunswickers who don't have a family doctor.

"There will be more (clinics) announced in other parts of the province," he said.

"The concept is to make sure that we have the right level of service at the right location at the right time for people. The closer we can get primary care to people, the better."

Health Minister Mary Schryer said she's disappointed that the Tories haven't provided more details about their plan to introduce collaborative clinics around the province.

She said it seems Alward is trying to piggyback on the successful recruitment efforts of the Liberal government, which has increased the number of New Brunswick physicians by 169 since 2006.

"Collaborative practices - we're already doing (that)," she said.

"It's not a new concept, David Alward. We have 15 of them in the province now and about a month ago I announced in Quispamsis that we were doing a blueprint - getting an idea in that community, hearing what their health-care needs are, what it looks like today and what it looks like in the future."

She said the Progressive Conservatives have made this campaign commitment without explaining to the public how they'll be able to accomplish their goals.

"The action plan has to go with it and there was no action plan identified. There was certainly no costing identified, so I'm still a little perplexed as to what his plan actually is," she said.

Schryer said the provincial government is conducting several health needs assessments in communities such as in Quispamsis and Oromocto.

She said the information gathered during those studies may identify important health-care needs, and she believes more consultations will be held.

"We will definitely, in Fredericton, engage in that conversation with all the stakeholders there," she said.

"We need to have the health-care professionals there. We need to have the public there to explain to us what it is that they're looking for. We need to have discussions, you know, is it a wellness centre plus a health clinic? What is it the health clinic would actually do? How many doctors?"