Renewed calls for action from the province to address doctor shortages in Rainy River, Kenora

Efforts continue to remedy a critical doctor shortage in Rainy River in northwestern Ontario after the local physician group announced last month it will be pulling its hospital services.

Riverside Health Care issued a statement on Monday saying it has "secured physician hospital services, including emergency room coverage, at the Rainy River Health Centre from Oct. 1, 2024, to Nov. 22, 2024."

"Our team continues to work on scheduling locums for the remainder of 2024 and is actively engaging with Ontario Health to develop a permanent solution that will address both hospital and primary care needs."

The Rainy River Physician Group issued a letter on Aug. 22 saying it would no longer be providing hospital services at the Riverside Health Care Facility - Rainy River Site after Sept. 30.

"At this time, our [Ministry of Health] contracts that pay physicians for clinic and hospital responsibilities does not allow us to continue to receive funding to [operate] the clinic independently of hospital services," the letter says.

Lead physician Dr. Joseph Ennett will support the clinic until Nov. 30 to meet the 90-day notification requirement for closing a practice.

Calls for new rural generalist care model in Kenora

Earlier this month, All Nations Health Partners Ontario Health Team (ANHP OHT) issued a statement sounding the alarm over physician shortages in Kenora, saying the health-care system is "on the brink of collapse."

The statement says that if the situation is not resolved, the emergency department at Lake of the Woods District Hospital is at risk of closure.

In response, the Sunset Country Family Health Team, which is the executive lead of the ANHP OHT, issued a statement on Monday saying it stands in solidarity with its partners "in our urgent call to the Ministry of Health for a new funding model for rural generalist care in the Kenora area."

"We support the call for the Ministry of Health to agree to and fund the proposed rural generalist care model. This model ensures equitable access to health-care services for all, with particular attention to the health inequities faced by those living in our rural and First Nations communities," says the statement.

"Developed collaboratively by local physicians, health-care organizations, and First Nations leadership, it represents the best path forward to secure long-term, continuous care for the people of Kenora and surrounding areas."

Bill Campbell, media relations for the Ministry of Health, provided an emailed response to CBC News on Tuesday about calls for a rural generalist care model.

"The Ministry of Health is aware of proposals from All Nations Health Partners (ANHP) Clinical Advisory and has held several working group meetings and negotiations with ANHP to better understand their proposal. The proposals are for physician services and as the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is the exclusive representative of physicians practicing in Ontario, formal negotiations with the OMA began on this issue on July 4, 2024," Campbell wrote.

"We look forward to continued conversations and are hopeful an agreement with the OMA can be reached to connect people in Kenora to the services they need, when they need them."