AG - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 27, 2000

On-call pay for specialists
Achilles heel of gov’t offer

WHERE THE government
offer ta doctors falls apart
in the northwest is with the
specialists and in particu-
lar, the money for on-call
pay.

A key part of the doc-
tors’ demands has been to
maich and surpass the deal
signed between the gov-
ernment.-and doctors. in
Prince George in late June
and in Willams Lake in
July.

While the. government
may be able to argue that
its bonus offer to general
practitioners and special-
isis here may compare fa-
yourably to the provisions
in those two cities, it can’t
ilo so here when it comes
io specialist on-call pay.”

The Prince George deal
establishes three categor-
ies of specialists when it
comes to on-call pay. For
the six key specialist cate-
gories where being called
out is likely such as gen-
eral surgery, internal
medicine and orthopedics,
ihe amount is $1,000 for a
24-hour period, which
works out lo just over $41
an hour. This is in addition
lo regular Medical Ser-
vices Plan billings the
specialist may make as a
result of being on call.

The amount recognizes
that a specialist. who is
called out at night may not

be able to perform his or -

her regular duties the next
day.
Rates of $500 and $250

for a 24-hour period have’
been established for spe- .

cialists not considered part

of the core services and | $75,000 each.

who may not be called out
as frequently.

A similar rate structure
has been set up for spe-
cialists in Williams Lake
in a deal signed in July.
This deal, details of which
have not yet been re-
leased, is also wanted by
Terrace doctors.

In the northwest, the si-
tuation is very different,
according to details re-
leased by the government
last week. Here, it wants
to pay a lump sum. of
$75,000 a year to local
health councils for each
core specialty provided at
their hospitals.

In Terrace, for instance,
the $75,000 could be split
evenly between the city’s
two general surgeons if
they agree to be available
constantly. In other words, ;
they’d each receive
$37,500 a year for being
on-call every other night.
There are now four general
surgeons in Prince George.
If they divide on-call
evenly, each would be
available for work about

91 days a year and so

‘would get $91,000.

There’s a wrinkle when
it comes to general sur-
geons in the northwest. In
addition to the two here,
there is one in Kitimat and
one in Prince Rupert. They
now share on-call duties,
meaning that cach works
every fourth night.

But because the four

* surgeons share on-call du-
‘ties, their health councils

here; in Kitimat and
Prince Rupert won't get
Instead,

they'll get one lump sum
of $75,000 between them
because they’ve agreed to
pool their general sur-
geons. In other words, the
four general surgeons in
ihe ‘northwest would each
get $18,750 for being on
call one night-in four - a
dramatic difference be-
tween. what the four pen-
eral surgeons in - Prince
George would receive: |

Government officials
have consistently argued
since the Prince George
deal was signed. in June
Ihat the situation there is
more critical than else-
where. They say, on aver-
age, there is a greater spe-
cialist shortage in Prince
George, meaning that
extraordinary measures
were needed,

As well, health minister

_Mike Farnworth has been

cajling Prince George the
key “training and referral
centre for the north” and
as such, demands special
attention.

That doesn't cut it with
local doctors who paint out
that Terrace is in a similar
category because the spe-

cialists here serve the en-_

lire region.

They say the specialist:

on-call pay offer here
doesn’t take geography
into account in that spe-
cialists may have to travel
between the three main
hospitals in Terrace, Kiti-
mat and Prince Rupert.
Local physician spokes-
man Dr. Hitl Redpath fears
that with the discrepancy
in specialist on-call pay
between here and Prince

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Corrections

“ners

Russell Billson
WINDSHIELDS
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fix m

MY WINDOW!
Russell! Will you
window
please?

HET TTT

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5504 Lloyde St. Terrace, B.C.

George, specialists here
will leave.

And when that does
happen, general practitio-
ners. will follow because
there won't be any back up

for the more difficult
medical situations ‘they
may face,

As for on-call pay for
general- practitioners here,
there is an apparent differ-

“ence between the. deal in

Prince George which fa-
vours ‘local ones. ,
Here, they've agreed to

being paid $10 an hour in
addition to ‘regular fee for
service billings for being
on call, General ‘practitio-
in Prince George
don’t receive on call pay.

“As for: Williams Lake,
general practitioners. are to
be paid for being on-call
but those details aren’t
being released yet.

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