Newfoundland struggling to recruit oncologists despite big signing bonus

Corner Brook's new hospital is just weeks away from opening, but staffing shortages mean the new cancer care ward may not be fully operational on day one. (CTV News)

Despite a brand new hospital and a hefty signing bonus, health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador still haven't recruited the oncologists they need for an expanded cancer care program on the province's west coast.

After a search that’s lasted close to a year, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services has now hired recruitment firms to help staff a new cancer care centre at the new Western Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook.

The hospital is expected to open in July. Some cancer services will move, but Terri Stuckless, the clinical chief of the province's cancer care program, said the new radiotherapy machines cannot be turned on as the required staff haven't been put in place.

Radiation oncologists who choose to work at the hospital could make up to $500,000 in their first year of work, thanks to signing bonuses that could double the regular salary of roughly $270,000 for some eligible doctors.

"We've been working really hard over the last couple of years, anticipating the opening of this clinic," Stuckless said. "So far, unfortunately, we haven't been able to get anything firm in place."

The new centre would have given patients on Newfoundland’s west coast and in Labrador a closer option for radiation oncology treatment. Right now, that treatment can only be performed in St. John's.

Some residents now worry cancer patients will still have to travel to St. John’s — an almost 700-kilometre one way trip — when the hospital officially opens this summer.

"I had a family member that was in St. John's for five weeks, I spent five weeks with them," said Gerald Parsons, who is co-chair of the Western Regional Hospital Action Committee.

"It's not nice. You're living out of your house, it costs money to live in St. John's in a hotel, plus you got a home back in Corner Brook that's gotta be taken care of."

Eddie Joyce, who represents the region as an Independent in the House of Assembly, said health officials should have been better prepared for the oncology ward’s opening.

"This should have been ongoing for the last four or five or six years," he said. "Starting when they're in Med school to entice them to come to Corner Brook."

"Every question I asked, [they said] ‘Yes, Yes, we’re working on it’," he added. "But it’s not done. And it’s gonna [make] a lot of people upset."

Doctors coming to Newfoundland and Labrador to take new jobs are eligible for multiple bonuses that could substantially boost their salaries.

Doctors who were born in Newfoundland and Labrador or trained there, but have been living outside of the province, are eligible for $100,000 in bonuses, in exchange for a five-year work agreement.

Doctors who have never worked in Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority before may be eligible for an additional $175,000 in bonuses.

Despite those incentives, Stuckless said pay in the province for radiation oncologists is still relatively low, compared to other jurisdictions in the country.

"We’re recruiting against competitors in Ontario, B.C., Alberta, and the remuneration out there is actually much higher again," she said. "It is a factor. I don’t think it’s the only factor… but it’s obvious right now and the feedback we’ve had from potential candidates… that it is factor on the table, there’s no doubt."

Job openings in Alberta show an advertised salary for a similar position that could reach about $465,000 yearly.

The competition is made even more difficult by how few of these specialists graduate every year — Stuckless said only 25 are trained each year across the country, and only one in Atlantic Canada.

"Right now, the reality is we’re in a bit of a trough in terms of supply," Stuckless said.

"I feel like we’ve reached under every stone and this is now, you know, it is maybe just a bit of waiting game. I’m optimistic that we will get there."