Sutcliffe would create local doctor recruitment strategy if elected mayor

A doctor is seen in this file photo. (Pexels)

Ottawa mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe says he would create a local campaign to help encourage more family doctors to set up practice in the capital, if he is elected mayor. 

In a news release Monday, Sutcliffe said that while health care is primarily a provincial issue, the city can play a role.

“While this isn’t specifically a municipal issue and the City of Ottawa can’t solve this problem alone, the Mayor can show leadership in implementing a strategy for this high-needs area to recruit family physicians to our city. This includes working directly with the provincial government and providing a safe, reliable and more affordable city that brings doctors here for more than just work,” he said.

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He cited the city of Kingston’s Family Physicians Recruitment Incentive Program as an example of what Ottawa could do. Kingston says, since the program launched in January, nine new doctors have moved to the city to practice family medicine.

Speaking to CTV News Ottawa, Sutcliffe said that part of the strategy would be making the situation in Ottawa clearer to decision-makers at Queen’s Park.

“I’ve spoken with a few family doctors who say the province may not recognize the scope of the problem here,” he said.

Sutcliffe said retaining med school graduates would be a key part of an Ottawa-based health-care strategy.

“We have great medical schools in Ottawa. We need to make sure the graduates are staying here and have lots of reason to,” he said. “Ottawa can be highly competitive in the battle for talent, whether that’s family physicians, health-care workers or others, so we can do that and we need to do that right away with an effective strategy.”

Staffing issues have troubled health-care institutions and patients across Ontario.

“Every area in the entire province in Ontario is under serviced. Some are more under serviced than others are, but every area is under serviced,” Dr. Alykhan Abdulla told CTV News Ottawa.

Abdulla said simply paying someone to stay and be a doctor won’t help. There are provincial regulations that also need to be dealt with.

“We have everything; we have safe neighbourhoods, we have reasonable affordable housing, we have good med schools and hospitals and public transit. We don’t really need a financial incentive, what we need to do is eliminate provincial regulation that artificially restricts doctors from working in certain areas. Doctors train here as family doctors but then they can’t work here as family doctors.”

A statement from Catherine McKenney’s campaign said Sutcliffe would not be able to address the issues the city is facing, which feed into the health care situation.

“Catherine knows that, to address the health care crisis in our city, we need to make our City a healthier place to live, not make up to $80 million in cuts that Mark Sutcliffe is proposing,” the statement said. “We will not attract and retain the talent our city needs, in any sector, when we have transit that doesn’t show up on time, a housing affordability crisis, lack of services in French, dangerous roads and more.”

McKenney’s campaign said Sutcliffe was “taking away the blame from his Conservative Party friends like Lisa MacLeod, who cut our health care during the last four years.”

Former Ottawa Mayor Bob Chiarelli didn’t comment specifically on Sutcliffe’s plan Monday, but his campaign noted that Chiarelli had released a health care plan in August.

In it, Chiarelli says he would create “a nimble, focused and local health-care task force to advise the City through the Mayor’s Office on our response to any provincial vision and plan.”

At least one council candidate agrees with Sutcliffe’s idea to create a recruitment strategy.

“People should not be languishing on lists for years and years, and the more I looked into it, I realized oh, places like Windsor and Burlington and Hamilton and Cornwall and Kingston they have doctor recruitment task forces,” said Ward 12 council candidate Stephanie Plante.

“I’m hoping that in establishing a task force, possibly working with the University of Ottawa, we can really see a fulsome approach to recruiting family doctors and having them want to come to Ottawa and stay and want to be part of our community,” she said.

Sutcliffe is one of 14 candidates running for mayor and Plante is among 10 people vying for the Ward 12 council seat.

Election Day is Oct. 24. There is one more advance voting day on Friday. 

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Colton Praill.