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“At a time when everyone is starving for health care staff or people are burned out, I don’t know how people who have good performance reviews are being told they have to leave because of restructuring.”
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July 16, 2022 • 7 Hours Ago • 7 Minutes Read • 8 Comments Pinecrest-Queensway CEO Christopher McIntosh said hundreds of people are on waiting lists for the center: “We know we need to accommodate another 2,500 health care patients at the center customers and we know we can do this without new funding.” Photo by Robin Andrew /Attached
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Four health workers with decades of experience will lose their jobs at one of Ottawa’s busiest community health centers later this month.
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The two family physicians, one nurse practitioner and one registered nurse received termination notices without cause in April. Their last working day is July 29.
They were not given an explanation for the firings, according to current and former employees, who asked to remain anonymous because they feared repercussions on the job or impact on future employment if identified.
Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Center (CHC) says the termination is part of a restructuring that will allow it to serve 2,500 more health clients without new funding at a time when primary health care is in short supply. The center’s chief executive says the restructuring aims to provide better care.
But the move, at a time of a global shortage of health workers, has raised concerns among some who fear the loss of experienced health professionals will hinder and harm the centre’s many vulnerable patients. Others say the restructuring does not explain why four experienced health professionals were let go. That, they say, will mean less access to care, especially in the short term.
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“They work with some of the most marginalized people in our city. I’m very concerned about what I’m hearing,” Ottawa Center NDP MPP Joel Harden said of the terminations.
“At a time when everyone is starving for health care staff or people are burned out, I don’t know how people who have good performance reviews are being told they have to leave because of restructuring.”
Chandra Pasma, the newly elected NDP MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean, which includes the Pinecrest-Queensway catchment area, says she worries about the well-being of patients. She says many of the center’s patients have been through traumatic experiences, including war, violence and more. “Losing trusted healthcare workers adds unnecessary stress.”
One of those patients said she was shocked to receive word that her doctor of 15 years was leaving.
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“I’m devastated that she’s leaving,” she said. “It affects me medically. I am very concerned that they are taking away a person who knows me and knows my record.
The patient, who requested anonymity to protect her privacy, noted that health care workers “have been there for us during this crazy COVID pandemic. Seeing this done to them is bad enough, but during COVID?”
Other upset patients called the clinic for information.
OTTAWA – July 14, 2022 – Pinecrest Community Health Center at 1365 Richmond Road in Ottawa Thursday. TONY CALDWELL, Postmedia. Photo by Tony Caldwell/Postmedia
The centre, which serves an area around Bayshore and the west end, as well as parts of Barrhaven, has recruited people to replace the nurse and nurse practitioner who have been made redundant. The replacements are relatively recent graduates, according to current and former employees. But the KHC has not yet replaced the two doctors. The center says it expects to be fully staffed before the end of the summer.
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He has “restructured internal teams and changed roles to build a stronger team and ensure healthcare hours are available when clients need them,” Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Center said in a statement.
It said CHC was serving 25-30 percent fewer patients than it was funded to serve “due to outdated staff and patient scheduling practices.” Forty-five percent of the center’s patients sought care from another health care provider or emergency room as a result, community health center officials said.
The restructuring means a small number of staff no longer work at PQCHC, the statement said.
“Because of the desperate need of many for primary care, this work has been underway for years and has accelerated in the past few months.”
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But observers, health care providers and former and current workers are concerned about the disruption and the inability to replace experienced staff at a time when hiring is difficult.
People familiar with the situation also said some of those released were among the center’s busiest, and others were willing to take on more patients but were not asked.
Harden, who has not spoken directly with downtown managers, said the restructuring “doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense right now.”
In an interview, Pinecrest-Queensway Executive Director Christopher McIntosh said hundreds of people are on waiting lists for the center.
“At the center we know we need to take on 2,500 more health clients and we know we can do that without new funding.”
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This will mean shortening many primary care appointments from the current default of 30 minutes to an average of 20 minutes, he said.
“We know from other providers that the average appointment can be shorter and meet the complexity of our clients’ needs without impacting care.”
He said the center “needs to do a better job” of asking customers ahead of time what the appointment is about and then booking the appropriate time slot with the appropriate professional, which could include a nutritionist, podiatrist or registered nurse, rather than a doctor or nurse practitioner. Customers who need longer appointments will still have them, he said.
“The plan is to improve care.”
Current and former employees said all the health workers affected had strong job reviews and a combined total of more than 50 years of experience. The permanent doctors take care of more than 700 patients.
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Current and former workers said they were worried about how disruptive the move would be, particularly for vulnerable customers. They are also concerned about the extra pressure it could put on others working at the centre.
Many of Pinecrest-Queensway’s patients have experienced physical or sexual trauma, have complex health issues, and struggle with poverty, housing and other social issues. Appointments tend to be long because many of the patients need an interpreter and because it may be difficult for them to get to the center, they bring more than one question at a time.
“This patient population needs very experienced and committed (health) care providers,” said one of the group of concerned former and current workers. Last year, five health care providers left the center.
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Dr. Alison Eyre, a family physician at Centretown Community Health Center and an associate professor in uOttawa’s Department of Family Medicine, says she is particularly concerned that some of those losing their jobs include French-speaking health care workers.
There are many members of the city’s Franco-African immigrant community in the Pinecrest Queensway catchment, Eyre said. For them, the ability to receive services in their own language is crucial.
A study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) this week highlighted the importance of patients receiving health care in their own language. Among other things, he found that francophones who received care in their own language had a 24 percent lower chance of dying while in hospital than those who did not receive care from a French-speaking physician.
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Eyre says her concern about the situation is heightened because it’s hard to hire healthcare workers right now, and even harder to hire those who speak multiple languages and have experience.
However, Pinecrest Queensway says it expects to have a “more diverse” health staff as a result of the restructuring.
Ayer, like Harden, said she was puzzled why the center would let people go as part of a restructuring during a pandemic, a health-care staffing crisis and some of the greatest strain the province’s health system has ever experienced.
“I can’t fathom what kind of restructuring you would do to lay off health workers in this climate,” she said. “I need to understand the thinking behind it.”
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Former and current workers describe the management culture at the community health center as rigid and…
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