Fredericton touts efforts to attract doctors, despite lagging stats for primary care access

Having a quick commute to work, access to cycling trails and the ability to enjoy winter activities like skiing were all factors Dr. Philipp Kolb considered when he decided to move to Fredericton after graduating from medical school three years ago.

Now a locum doctor who juggles hospital work with family medicine and addictions care, Kolb is hoping to share what he sees as the benefits of living in Fredericton in a bid to help attract other young doctors like him to move there.

"It's a beautiful city. We have everything here that you need and nothing that you don't, right? We have a ton of cultural opportunities. We have markets, we have art, we have music, we have trails, we have nature."

Kolb spoke at an event the City of Fredericton hosted Wednesday to showcase its efforts to attract physicians to work in the region.

Those efforts include two $5,000 scholarships it announced earlier this year for medical students who commit to practicing in Fredericton.

City staff played two videos produced in the past year showing snippets of young doctors touting the lifestyle Fredericton offers, intermixed with clips of them partaking in activities like cycling and paddling on the St. John River in between visiting craft breweries.

However, it's unclear whether efforts by the city are yielding results, particularly as other Canadian municipalities offer up more aggressive incentives.

A New Brunswick Health Council survey also suggests a decline in access to primary care in recent years.

Results of the survey taken last year found that 63.5 per cent of people living in Zone 3, which includes Fredericton and western New Brunswick communities going north to Grand Falls, reported having access to a permanent primary care provider.

That's below the provincial average of 77.2 per cent, and well below the level in 2022, when 80 per cent of respondents said they had access to a permanent primary care provider.

"Should cities be taking on this responsibility? Well, I mean, jurisdictionally it's not our responsibility, but ... I am not one of those mayors who says it's not my job," said Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers, speaking after the event.

At the same time, Rogers was adamant that the responsibility for fixing the region's health-care problems was on Horizon Health Network and the provincial government, not the city.

"I would expect at the very least that Fredericton be at the provincial average," said Rogers.

"It is nonsensical to me that we are a capital city and that we, our residents, don't have at least the the same [access] as others in the province."

CBC News asked for follow-up comment from Rogers about whether the city was doing enough to compete with other municipalities looking to attract doctors.

"To date the need for financial incentives to recruit doctors has not been expressed," Rogers said, in an emailed statement.

Fredericton region a challenge, says health minister

Speaking at the event, Health Minister John Dornan said the Fredericton region has been a challenging area for recruitment.

He said the reason is that the opportunities to practice have been limited to private-practice clinics, which young doctors aren't interested in.

"What new graduates want ... and it's what we are offering, is collaborative practices where you can work with other new graduates, senior graduates, middle career graduates, as well as other care providers, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physiotherapists," Dornan said.

"And so when you work in that environment and have a government looking after your overhead [costs], human resources, snow plowing, then you're more inclined to come in. You also want to go into a practice where there's someone there to cover for you if you go on a holiday or you get sick or if you retire."

Premier Susan Holt campaigned last year on a promise of opening 30 of those collaborative care clinics across the province before 2028.

One of the first to open was in Fredericton's north side in April, which took on 1,600 patients that previously didn't have a primary care provider.

Dornan said work is underway to establish another such clinic on the city's south side, though details are still being worked out.

"There are a couple of groups of family doctors that are starting to talk with each other about where they could go," he said.

"And what's also important is they're looking at providing teaching space for residents, interns, other health-care providers, nurses, nurse practitioners."