Hamilton hospital launches unprecedented doctor recruitment campaign

Hamilton, Ont., May 17, 2000 – Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation in partnership with McMaster University is immediately launching an unprecedented recruitment campaign to address critical shortages of physicians across all specialty areas within the organization.

HHSC is prepared to aggressively seek out the best physicians to join its top-notch health care team. National shortages of physician specialists, attrition, and uncertainty over the future of HHSC's three acute care hospital sites, have all contributed to the critical shortage of health care specialists in Hamilton. Ultimately, HHSC hopes to fill more than 85 physician vacancies.

“Stability and vitality have returned to HHSC,” says supervisor Ron Mulchey. “With recent funding announcements and commitment from the government to maintain HHSC's three acute care hospitals, there's renewed hope and a brighter future for staff and the people they serve.”

“The Hamilton hospitals have always been our partners in health research,” says Russell Joffe, dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences. “Research, education and clinical treatment come together at teaching hospitals, providing patients with top quality health care.”

HHSC's chief of staff, Bill Shragge, will be responsible for co-ordinating a two-phase physician recruitment campaign. HHSC's chiefs of clinical departments and the Faculty of Health Sciences clinical chairs will work closely together to map out recruitment strategies.

The first phase of this campaign will address physician resource issues over the next 14 months. HHSC's three acute care hospitals are experiencing critical shortages of physicians in anesthesia, general surgery, psychiatry, and general internal medicine.

The second phase of the campaign will concentrate on the stability of physician supply by addressing long term physician recruitment and retention issues. Adequate physician coverage over HHSC's three acute care sites will assure appropriate and timely access to those services provided by HHSC to a 2.2 million population referral area.

Both hospital and University share a substantial resource commitment to this fundamental initiative to restore the supply of physicians within HHSC.

Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation is Ontario's largest provider of comprehensive health care. HHSC operates four sites — Chedoke campus, Hamilton General Hospital, Henderson General Hospital and McMaster University Medical Centre — as well as the Children's Hospital.

Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation is one of the major regional providers of comprehensive health services for 2.2 million people of central south Ontario. As a major teaching hospital, HHSC is a partner with McMaster University and others in the education of future health professionals and the creation of new knowledge through research, and is committed to participating in the improvement of the health of the residents of the Hamilton-Wentworth Region.