CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A reduction of physiotherapy services at the QEH is a disappointing outcome following about a year of discussions with the province, says the president of the Prince Edward Island Physiotherapy Association.
Mark MacKenzie said the association has met with government and Health P.E.I. officials during the past year to work on solutions for a shortage of physiotherapists at the QEH, which recently saw a reduction in services following recruitment challenges.
MacKenzie described those meetings as positive in that all parties agreed it was an issue that needed addressing.
“Unfortunately, all those discussions, although they were positive, have not led to preventing this current situation,” said MacKenzie, adding that he did not see any one group or individual as being to blame for the shortfall. “We’ve been working as hard as we can in trying to ensure Islanders don’t go without services.”
The current shortfall was caused by vacancies through retirement, maternity and other leaves that MacKenzie said would occur in any organization.
The meetings were also to address some of those upcoming shortfalls, with MacKenzie adding that a short-staffed physiotherapy complement was already an issue at the QEH.
“Anytime there is an unexpected absence, it makes delivery of our services very challenging because at our very best we’re well below what our normal capacity should be,” he said.
With recruiting being the major difficulty, MacKenzie said the association’s position was not to advocate for one form of health care over another, but he noted the public system has fallen “very far” behind in attracting physiotherapists.
“It hasn’t been competitive in recent years,” he said, adding that the association itself has also tried to help with recruitment efforts.
Some of the challenges in recruiting to the public sector include a lack of vertical integration, little opportunity for mentoring, a high level of burnout and the pay scale.
MacKenzie said the association would continue working with the province and others to address those issues while also noting the increasing need for physiotherapy among an aging population.
“The association is not really interested in looking at the past. We want to help move this conversation forward and make sure people get the physiotherapy they need,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of people that understand the need for it, but until we get all of the key decision-makers in the same room with external stakeholders, we’re not going to have a sustainable plan that gives people what they need.”
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