Two new family doctors are coming to Prince Edward County. Both the new recruits, Dr. Emily Johnston and Dr. Erika Crowley, completed their residencies in Belleville through Queen’s university. Dr. Johnston will begin her practice in October of this year. Dr. Crowley will start later, as she is currently on maternity leave with twin girls.  Between the two new recruits, thousands of those waiting for primary care will soon be assigned to a doctor.

“Practice sizes vary in rural settings such as ours because our physicians staff the hospital, emergency department, and long-term care homes,” said Adam Hambly, Director of Physician recruitment for County Docs.

“Depending on how the physician structures their practice, they often have a practice size of 750 to 1500 patients.”

County Docs has recruited 11 new family doctors since the program was established in 2022. Many of those new doctors took over established practices from retiring physicians, however, limiting the opportunity to move patients off the waitlist.

Waitlisted patients are still joining the roster of the Prince Edward Health Team, though, receiving primary care from nurse practitioners. 

“There’s a lot of work happening both at the provincial level and local levels to reduce the number of patients waiting for a physician or nurse practitioner,” said Barinder Gill, Executive Director of the Prince Edward Family Health Team.

“Any PEC resident who was registered on Healthcare Connect prior to January 1st, 2025 has now been attached to primary care either through a physician or nurse practitioner.”

Patients registered after that date are now also being assigned to a nurse or doctor. 

“As a part of the province’s primary care transformation work and recent investments in primary care, we’ve committed to attaching 2800 PEC residents to care, out of which 1428 have already been attached,” Mr. Gill added.

In the meantime, County Docs is actively following 21 new physician leads. They consider three among them “high potential.”

For Drs. Johnston and Crowley, the timeline between initial engagement through County Docs and a commitment to practise here was about a year. 

During a typical recruitment process, County Docs plans site visits that cater to the needs and interests of the potential recruit, addressing everything from housing to hobbies. 

While both new recruits trained locally, County Docs casts a wide net to attract national and international doctors. As a founding member of Ontario Physician Recruitment Alliance, County Docs will be in Birmingham, UK in June to court physicians looking to move across the pond.

“UK trained physicians are fantastic international leads for us to engage with because they are one of only four countries where their training is considered equivalent to Canadian training,” Mr. Hambly said.

In addition to the conference, County Docs has targeted digital ad campaigns in both the US and Australia. Back in Ontario, Mr. Hambly attends Western University’s Resident Retreat next month to meet early career physicians and to extol the virtues of living in Prince Edward County.