Radiologist says she's sidelined by Central Health dispute while fly-in doctors being hired

An out-of-work radiologist in Newfoundland and Labrador says Central Health is giving preference to foreign hires over local doctorsin the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Jane Rendell alleges she's petitioned multiple times to go back to work at Gander's James Patonhospital, but has been told her services aren't required. Meanwhile, she says she's learned Central Health has arranged for two out-of-country specialists to be flown into the town forwork.

"They had hired an American doctor to come in on June 8, until the end of August, to do work that I should be doing," she told CBC News.

"He's from California, which is a COVID hotspot at the moment, with increasing cases, so not only is it costing the government to fly him in and put him up, and pay for everything, but he's a health risk."

Rendell's been off work since September, due to conflicts that she says exist between her and Central Health. She had worked with Central Health in Gander for six years before that.

She said she believed Central Health has promised to bring her back into the hospital, but now it appears the health board isn't accepting any of her offers.

According to Rendell, asecond fill-in doctoris coming into the country from the United Kingdom in September.

'Their reasoning is, 'Oh well, we set this up before.' That is ridiculous," she said.

Rendell said the fill-in doctors are also more expensive, as Central Health will have to pay for their flightsand find lodging for them during any mandatory 14-day isolation.

Issue highlighted in external report

The specialist says Central Health is violating a recommendation made in an external review of the organization in 2018.

That report, dubbed the Vaughn report, recommendedCentral Health support a "grow your own" recruiting and retention strategy to slow down a "perpetual revolving door" of locums doctors hired to temporarily fill in a position or to replace other doctors and international medical graduatesproviding servicesfor short periods of time.

"Many of the [international medical graduates]have historically completed a minimum period of time required to gain experience and meet requirements before moving on," the report read."Clearly communities are grateful for the services of the [international medical graduates], yet a perpetual revolving door of physician services is less than ideal for communities."

The report said in Gander, specialist and family doctor shortages "tend to overshadow staffing concerns at virtually all levels," and recommended health officials look to the example set by family medicine training and recruitment in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Central Health said it has taken several steps to address that recommendation, including creating more information resources for students about scholarships and job opportunities.

The organization hasn't yet responded to Rendell's complaints and allegations about the radiology department, but says it will have more to say this week.

A promise broken?

Central Health and Rendell agreed to entermediation in November, but that mediation was suspended in March when the COVID-19 outbreak hit Newfoundland and Labrador.

The radiologist said she and other colleagues offered to return to work to support the COIVD-19 effort, but were told there was no opportunity as the workload had significantly dropped.

According to communication between Rendell's lawyer, Jerome Kennedy, and Central Health, the health board offered an "interim arrangement' that asked Rendell to be available to return to work as a locum if needed, and said contracts would be negotiated to have her return to work once work volumes increased.

Central Health, along with other health boards, has been slowly reopening and resuming services during the province's COVID-19 Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 3 stages, but Rendell says she's yet to be offered any work.

"I willing to do it, [but] I wasn't even asked to do it," she said. "They gave these jobs to these foreign doctors without even telling me.

"I'm sitting here, asking to work, and being told,'No, no, you can't work, but we can have an American doctor in here that we're paying a fortune to bring in, and who may have COVID, to work.' Because that's a better idea."

Frosty history

In 2015, Rendell spoke out about a basic "lack of respect" in Central Health, when her colleague Michelle Ong filed a human rights complaint against the health authority.

She said Health Minister John Haggiewasn't addressing issues in Central Health, despite him working in Gander before his election.

She also supported another colleague, Dr. Paula Kennedy, in 2018 when Kennedy alleged she was bullied and harassed out of her position in the Gander hospital.

Rendell said she believes those stands are part of the reason her relationship with Central Health has turned frosty.

The 2018 Vaughn report noted many employees at the Gander hospital alleged their workplacewas a toxic atmosphere, and about 12 per cent reported being bullied or harassed.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador