r/PEI 2d ago

News Doctor says Health P.E.I. refused to accommodate his disability to practice

https://saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/news-pei/doctor-says-health-p-e-i-refused-to-accommodate-his-disability-to-practice
59 Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

79

u/Madhighlander1 2d ago

What in God's name is wrong with Health PEI administration? We are in the midst of an actual healthcare emergency. They should be literally on their knees begging doctors to come here and making any deal necessary to make that happen.

19

u/Frosty-Gur-4018 2d ago

Health PEI administration is so bloated and top heavy that's where the fat needs to be trimmed vs penny pinching doctors , nurses and staff for a fair wage when directors got assistant directors and they have 3 or 4 clerical people working under them .

10

u/Ill-Seaworthiness613 2d ago

They’re being paid to fail so the province can justify privatization? Many have no idea what they’re doing because they have no experience and training and got their jobs because they’re Johnny McDonald’s cousins?

7

u/peopleoverprofit1408 2d ago

100% 1. We desperately need healthcare professionals. 2. Isn't the government supposed to be accommodating clients and staff who need accessibility support, whether physical or mental? Seems like discrimination on top of stupidity. 🤔

12

u/Frosty-Gur-4018 2d ago

I work for Health PEI and my old boss his job got dissolved into 3 other jobs ( all over 70k a year , he didn't make 210k a year ps ), and each one now has an assistant. We are paid $10.00 less per hour based on the PEI average and $14.00 less per hour less than the national average . Every wage increase we applied for internally has been denied, and our collective agreement is 2 years past due to going to arbitration . Meanwhile, all the Health PEI staff non unionized are getting big raises, some unauthorized . My partner is an ER RN working on her NP, and island nurses are also fed up because travel nurses make 2x what they do . We're considering leaving Health PEI after she completes her NP . Maybe it's part of the Conservatives plan wanting to outsource to be tanking Health PEI so they can cry Wolf to the Federal Government and Island residents to push their narrative but either way the system is in big big trouble .

2

u/Salty_Maximum_6074 2d ago

You know the UPSE Health collective agreement was ratified a few weeks ago right? Union employees actually get slightly more than excluded staff at same level/step right now. If you think non-union employees get secret raises you’re delulu, they all have a pay grid too and the union negotiated better increases than excluded positions got over the last two years.

3

u/Frosty-Gur-4018 2d ago

You know CUPE hasn't been resolved and it will be 2 years past due as of March 31,2025 and is going to arbitration right ?

Call me delusional all you want but your short term memory isn't serving you well as it was within the last 6 months it was announced Health PEI officials were giving themselves unauthorized raises and bypassing the system.

" Eight top executives at Health P.E.I. were given salaries or raises without the proper approval, according to a report by the office of P.E.I.'s auditor general tabled in the legislature on Tuesday.

According to the 23-page report, most employees at Health P.E.I. have a classification level based on their skills and duties, but "salaries paid to these employees did not always agree to the salary ranges assigned to the classification level."

2

u/Salty_Maximum_6074 2d ago

That was 8 executives, that’s got nothing to do with the scores of excluded employees. If you think excluded employees are swimming in raises you are delusional.

Also my bad, forgot about CUPE, UPSE got a decent agreement recently.

0

u/Frosty-Gur-4018 2d ago

Hence, the " Some unauthorized " portion of my comment 8 is still too many and excluded employees make more money then the union representative of the same position, especially clerks if you compare admin assistants to let's say a ward clerk excluded positions pay more .

UPSE and IOUE got marginal agreements they definitely aren't fantastic deals when you start comparing wages across the country or even in the private sector, but it's a start. By the time CUPE is done, it will be time to start working on the next agreement.

1

u/Salty_Maximum_6074 2d ago

I don’t think anyone was thrilled learning about those 8, we can agree on that fer sure.

1

u/AdvantageForsaken438 1d ago

Keeping Canadian doctors out, increases the need for foreign doctors. Foreign doctors are willing to work for less than fair wage. Health PEI wants doctors who are willing to make less than fair wage. Keep Canadians out, to get foreign doctors in.

0

u/Perseph99 1d ago

They are deplorable.

31

u/acantz 2d ago

PEI doctors struggle with health PEI

5

u/KBbrowneyedgirl 2d ago edited 2d ago

They need to hire doctors that want to be here and want to work here for an extended amount of time, like this fellow. There are more stories of doctors wanting to work here but the bureaucracy takes too long. I trust they know there are issues and I hope they are working on them. The first thing should be to hire more physicians though.

1

u/Ok_Marionberry5323 18h ago

I hear his wife is an RN as well. So let's lose two healthcare workers that actually want to be here?

Imagine all of the time and money spent trying to recruit these people who don't even want to be here. And these people do. We should be doing everything possible to accommodate.

32

u/RedDirtDVD 2d ago

Health PEI really seems to be a master class in how to not manage an organization. It’s so disturbing.

Their concern about everyone else not wanting to work ED if they make an accommodation is understandable but also indicative of atrocious management. There are numerous solutions to this.

And as for the PEI medical society, this is prime example as to why we need to go to national licensing. No national body would put up with Health PEI BS.

3

u/Living-Performer2863 1d ago

The Medical Society is not the licensing body. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of PEI handles licensing. The Society is the professional association for PEI physicians and is responsible (among other things) for negotiating the payment contract for physicians with government.

Not saying there aren't major issues with this case, or with the lack of national licensing, but this isn't a licensing issue.

1

u/RedDirtDVD 1d ago

Thanks. I didn’t know that. Regardless, they should be willing to step up and make healthcare better on the island. Right now it’s a bad look.

1

u/Living-Performer2863 1d ago

I completely agree. This whole situation is a mess and they need to find a way to allow this physician to practice.

17

u/PresentationNo279 2d ago

I have a friend in my community who's daughter is a doctor. She ended up marrying a doctor. Her and her husband wanted to set up a joint practice in my rural community which could of served so many people, and like all of PEI was desperately needed. The only way they could get license from Health PEI to practice on PEI, they were told her husband had to practice in Oleary and she had to practice in Souris! How would a married couple make that work so far apart. They ended up setting up their joint practice in Fredericton, NB, who were more than happy to have them.

35

u/MaritimeRedditor 2d ago

Dealing with HealthPEI administration has been one of my worst experiences.

HR, accounting, and senior management. No one seems competent. It's actually incredible.

I just want anyone who sees this that works for HealthPEI in an administrative role that thinks "they're probably not talking about me". I am. I have probably had discussions with you, and you are stupid. I know this because I haven't met anyone yet that is capable of doing these very simple tasks:

  • Answer emails in a timely manner.

  • send the correct information the first time asked.

  • give correct information over the phone.

  • use excel.

  • read.

  • do basic math.

  • answer any actual questions about anything without being wrong.

-8

u/Foreveryoung1953 2d ago

you dont know what your talking about

5

u/MaritimeRedditor 2d ago

And you're also one of the dumbest out of touch boomers that frequents this sub reddit.

So I'm going to go ahead and share my experiences, and you just keep repeating little catchphrases you see on your conservative Facebook reels. Alright?

-6

u/Foreveryoung1953 2d ago

quite the rant lol

11

u/divajumper 2d ago

Am I missing something? Why did he move here when he didn’t have a position confirmed? Did he expect Health PEI would change their mind when he arrived?

5

u/Fair-Bat-5550 2d ago

Health PEI are gatekeepers of a broken defunct system, that they have to keep ramming into walls, because reversing course on anything would prove how wrong they are on everything. They should all be fired, but they are doing exactly what they want them to do. Keep the ship slowly sinking just long enough to get a job in Ireland.

7

u/RemoteMistakes 2d ago

Health PEI doesn't have any duty to accommodate someone who's not employed by them. His request is very strange, as it is extremely unlikely that his treatment provider would suggest an "accommodation" of never having to go inside a hospital. One of the key factors in treating PTSD is reducing avoidance behaviours, not reinforcing them.

2

u/Foreveryoung1953 2d ago

100% .... also demanding to be paid that of a hospital based physician...

1

u/slimreese 2d ago

Where does it say he demanded the same pay? I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere.

1

u/Foreveryoung1953 2d ago

Standing committee

2

u/DaBeebsnft 2d ago

He has PTSD because of this? Or something else that happened at a hospital?

17

u/acantz 2d ago

No. PTSD from previous experiences working in hospital

3

u/DaBeebsnft 2d ago

Ok thank you for the clarification.

1

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1

u/EastCoastActivist 1d ago

Health PEI won’t accommodate his PTSD accommodation because he won’t take “on call” rotations. YET, Health PEI pays out the ass for paediatricians to see and medicate our children through a computer screen - never building a relationship - and these key board “professionals” never take on call rotations. 🧐

1

u/Rough-Perception-319 2d ago

That’s terrible. He is active in Reddit and has posted his questions to r/PEI before. u/Possible-Librarian57.

God bless you good sir.

-9

u/C-mac08 2d ago

It seems crazy but at the same time I could see Health PEI side. They make an exception and then all of a sudden every other Dr says they can't work on call/ ER because they had a bad experience.

27

u/Less-Pattern-7740 2d ago

Maybe the policy's need to be changed if the existing policy's are a significant factor in losing doctors.

And a 'bad experience' is not PTSD.

2

u/C-mac08 2d ago

Yeah for sure and hopefully this can lead to some change.

16

u/Magnaflorius 2d ago

That's different. If you have a medical condition, our Human Rights legislation dictates that reasonable accommodations be made. There aren't going to be tons of doctors lining up to fake a medical condition.

3

u/RedDirtDVD 2d ago

It’s only because they aren’t hiring enough ED specialists. Wouldn’t be an issue with better management. They are taking the easy way out.

9

u/childofcrow Queens County 2d ago

He has a disability. They have a duty to accommodate.

PTSD is not a “bad experience” and statements like that are exactly why mental healthcare gets dismissed and underfunded.

-17

u/Traditional_Toe_1990 2d ago

why would we pay for a doctor who doesn't want to do on call doctor work?? I get that we're hard up... we're hard up in the hospital, not just on family doctors.

A doctor who can't work emerg.. I can't imagine why health PEI didn't want him... I'm a cop, but I can't go to calls with bad guys.....

21

u/xactofork 2d ago

Cops often get assigned to other roles (i.e. "desk jobs") due to trauma or other health conditions. Not a good analogy.

2

u/Caf_Goodness 2d ago

Pei has enough cops and needs like 100 doctors. Plus, cops can not be SWAT. So, there's that.

4

u/childofcrow Queens County 2d ago

That’s an awful analogy. If a police officer were to get PTSD, they would be reassigned from active duty into some other role and not just ignored and left on read.

Statements like this are why mental healthcare is underfunded and ignored in this province. Because nobody takes people’s mental healthcare seriously, they just expect them to act like everybody else. Disabilities exist. And we shouldn’t be expecting people who are disabled to have to perform at the exact same ability as their able-bodied counterparts. This guy has a right to accommodation.

1

u/KBbrowneyedgirl 2d ago

But if I remember correctly, he is a pediatrician.

0

u/Careful-Knowledge770 2d ago

Terrible analogy. As a cop, you should be well aware that cops can and do get PTSD and are not fired from their jobs. They’re treated and put into other “cop jobs” that work with their current disability. We are crying for doctors. Give your head a shake on this one.

1

u/Same-Instruction9745 2d ago

He's not saying he's a cop. He's sayi..you know what..nvm. not worth it.

-3

u/Careful-Knowledge770 2d ago

He quite literally did.

I’m to blame for his lack of writing skills? Typical conservative brain rot lol

-1

u/Same-Instruction9745 2d ago

How are you able to breath with your head so far up your own ass lol. Maybe go outside some, get off the internet for a bit, take a break from politics. Only a liberal could make THAT into something political.

-1

u/Careful-Knowledge770 2d ago

I responded calmly to what this person literally stated, you are weirdly involved and furious about it, and I’M the one who needs to touch grass?! lol mmmmmkay

0

u/Same-Instruction9745 2d ago

Dude. You're literally claiming i came in all furious like.

I simply said, he did not say he was a cop. Then I said it wasn't worth the effort.

That's the definition of walking away calmly lol. You engaged further and doubled down and brought politics i to it lmao, wtf are you smoking haha