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Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said he wasn’t exactly surprised by the findings of a new report into the doctor culture in Regina’s hospitals.
The report detailed problems like a lack of trust in the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), a breakdown of civility between doctors, a tolerance of disruptive behaviour, and bullying and harassment of leaders.
Cockrill said some of what he read was concerning for him.
“You can’t do much about it until you start to identify the issues and have some honest conversations with all the parties involved, and I think that’s really what this review has kicked off,” said the minister.
He said the provincial government has been working to recruit doctors, trying to put forward all the communities in the province as great places to practise.
“Some of the findings here illustrate why we’ve had maybe some challenges recruiting to Regina in the past, I’d like to change that,” explained Cockrill.
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The report detailed doctors choosing to practise in Saskatoon over Regina, and trainees opting not to work in Regina after their training, due to concerns about the workplace culture.
When asked if there was any frustration on his part with the culture in Regina seemingly working against his government’s efforts to recruit doctors, Cockrill said it all just needs to come back to the patients.
“Any frustration I have is that when we get stuck in conversations, that it seems that we lose the focus of patient care,” said Cockrill.
But the minister wasn’t interested in assigning blame for the long-standing problems. Instead, he said he’s more concerned about what the Ministry of Health, SHA, Sask. Medical Association (SMA), and the College of Physicians and Surgeons are going to do to fix things as they move forward.
There were 14 recommendations made in the report, and Cockrill said the SHA had already started to work on some of the issues at hand. He said some things, like implementing practitioner staff bylaws and rules, could be completed in short order because work has been happening for a while. But some pieces will take longer, like the recommendation to build a culture of belonging.
“You don’t just flip a switch and change the culture of an organization or a facility, that’s going to take time – making sure we have the right leaders in place, making sure that we’re holding people accountable, and making sure that people can trust each other,” said the minister.
Doctor compensation was mentioned in the report a few times and it was recommended that the fee-for-service model be reviewed. In 2023, the province and SMA agreed to a new compensation model. Cockrill said conversations about changes in line with recommendations in the report would be most appropriate for the next round of talks.
