link-CBCAlberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro has directed the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta to change its standards of practice for physicians by July 20 in an attempt to stop the province's doctors from leaving their practices en masse due to an ongoing dispute over pay.
"The standards do not go far enough to protect patients, particularly in rural or smaller communities," Shandro said in a bluntly worded June 18 letter, released at a CPSA meeting Wednesday.
"Patients in these communities should not have to face an entire group of physicians withdrawing services."
In the letter, Shandro tells the CPSA to change the standards of practice to "prohibit an entire group of physicians from withdrawing at the same time. This could be identified as 'job action' rather than a closure of a medical practice."
Doctors should be required to give three months' notice before leaving a practice, the letter states.
Shandro directs the CPSA to ensure doctors "take steps to mitigate the impact of withdrawal of services, including making all reasonable efforts to ensure that other physicians are available to address patient needs."
The college must "require physicians to provide effective alternative resources and/or arrangements for patients if they choose to withdraw services," the letter says.
If the alternative arrangements are insufficient and create undue risk of harm to patients, "the college can require that some physicians involved in the withdrawal of services must continue to provide services until effective alternative resources and/or arrangements have been created," Shandro's letter says.
