Northern Cape Breton fears imminent health-care crisis with loss of doctor

People living in northern Cape Breton say they are facing a health-care crisis with the loss of a family physician in the area.

"We're facing a very serious situation up here," said Rob MacDonald, an Aspy Bay resident who's part of a group that formed to help recruit new doctors to Buchanan Memorial Community Health Centrein Neils Harbour.

The family doctors working out of the hospital serve a large swath of Victoria Countyfrom Ingonish to Meat Cove.

One of two full-time doctors recruited two years ago has just wrapped up her practice and is moving to New Glasgow where her spouse is pursuingcareer opportunities, MacDonald said.

'A great deal of stress'

And two other doctors who have been working in the community for decades want to retire, or at least maintain reduced hours.

"This means that our existing MDs are under a great deal of stress," said MacDonald.

"It means that patients are facing longer and longer wait times in order to be able to see their family doctor. And my real concern is that this is going to adversely impact upon the emergency room up here. We may be facing closings on a regular basis."

That's a serious concern given the remoteness of the area north of Cape Smokey.

"Here, we're 2 to 3 hours away from Sydney.In the wintertime, it can be impossible to get across two or three mountains to get from Neils Harbour to Sydney," he said.

Remoteness a concern

Ingonish area Coun. Larry Dauphinee believes the community's remoteness is also working against it when it comes to doctor recruitment.

"I feel that there's more recruiting trying to get them into the industrial areas of Nova Scotia. I'm not sure we're really getting a fair chance," he said.

The municipality is keen to do its part to help, he said, but so far has had little luck getting a meeting with the recruiter for the area, or with the Nova Scotia Health Authority.

In a statement, the health authority says recruiting physicians for Buchanan Memorial Hospital is a top priority.