FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2025
Matt MacFarlane calls on government to change course on family medicine mandates after learning five PEI family medicine residents now intend to leave PEI
Charlottetown, PE – Matt MacFarlane, Leader of the Green Party of Prince Edward Island, is calling on Premier Lantz and his government to immediately change course on its new mandates for family doctors. Islanders have now learned that this damaging and disrespectful policy has resulted in five second-year family medicine residents – who trained on PEI and planned to open practices on the Island – to look at alternative options and other provinces.
“These are five talented, hard-working young doctors who came to PEI eager to stay and provide care to Island families. They built relationships here, and they were ready to start their careers and take thousands of Islanders off the patient registry,” said MacFarlane. “Now they’re looking to our neighbouring provinces, not because they want to, but because this government has made it impossible for them to stay.”
In a letter addressed to the Minister, Premier, and other health system leaders, the medical residents cited the newly imposed patient panel policy and daily key performance indicators (KPIs) as the reason for their departure. The expectations, such as managing a panel of 1,600 patients, seeing 24 patients a day, and onboarding 66 new patients every month, were described by the doctors as “unrealistic,” “unachievable,” and “harmful to patient care.”
Some concerning comments from the medical residents’ letter include:
What was initially a strong contract, which we do believe would have gone a long way towards its intended impact of bringing physicians to PEI, will now drive away and prevent people from coming here, which is very sad.
As new graduates who have had job offers from multiple provinces, why should we work for an organization that has made it clear that they have no interest in our concerns and those of our colleagues?
All 5 of us had planned to stay on PEI and practice here, however, since the demands you have laid out, we have no choice but to look into both alternative options out of province and non-LFM [longitudinal family medicine] opportunities locally —which is opposite of the initial intent and spirit of the new PSA [Physician Services Agreement]. I ask you, what is the point of implementing a panel policy size and unachievable and unrealistic KPI’s if no physicians come to sign your LFM contract? We are sincerely disappointed.
“The message from government these doctors are getting is that their concerns don’t matter, that quality of care doesn’t matter, and that their well-being doesn’t matter,” said MacFarlane. “That’s not just bad policy, it’s bad leadership.”
MacFarlane is calling on Premier Rob Lantz and Minister of Health Mark McLane to immediately change course.
“We are in the midst of a healthcare crisis. We cannot afford to drive new doctors away with heavy-handed mandates that add additional burdens on our doctors and that do nothing to improve patient care,” said MacFarlane. “The Premier and Minister must listen to the doctors and fix this now before more family doctors leave our province.”
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Katie Rankin
Chief of Staff
Office of the Third Party
Tel: (902) 213-6378
Email: kerankin@assembly.pe.ca