More than 100 foreign-trained doctors apply to new licensing program in New Brunswick

A new program launched this month by the New Brunswick College of Physicians and Surgeons is designed to increase the number of foreign-trained doctors licensed to practise in the province.

It's called the Practice-ready Assessment and Dr. Nicole LeBlanc, deputy registrar of the college, said it's the result of a collaboration that began in 2018 with the province, the health networks, the New Brunswick Medical Society and medical schools.

"It is a program that really provides an alternate route to licensure for internationally trained physicians in family medicine," LeBlanc said.

Applications for the first group opened on Oct. 1 and will close Oct. 31. LeBlanc says applications will continue to be accepted for future assessments.

The program is offered through the Medical Council of Canada. Nine provinces, including New Brunswick, offer the Practice-ready Assessment, according to the council. It's not offered in Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, the council's website said.

LeBlanc said there is already a lot of interest in the program, with more than 100 applicants.

Only 10 of those will be chosen to be part of the first group that is evaluated. LeBlanc said that's because each will have to go through a comprehensive 12-week clinical evaluation, completed by a practising New Brunswick doctor, who is trained as an assessor.

"The limitation factor is … the quantity of assessors that they're actually able to recruit," she said, with physicians already "in high demand."

WATCH | 100 applicants, 10 new doctors. Here's how it works:

"We are cognizant of the fact that we want to start with a number that's realistic for the resources that we have here in New Brunswick."

20,000 still waiting for GP

A spokesperson for the Department of Health says about 74,000 people were without a primary care provider in the summer of 2022, but that has since dropped to about 20,000.

In an emailed statement, Sean Hatchard said the Health Link program "is helping to take people off the wait list."

"The program gives New Brunswickers access to primary care via a network of family doctors and nurse practitioners while they wait for a permanent provider," he said.

And the province has seen "an upward trend" in physician recruitment in the last three years.

"The provincial ranks have climbed from 1,743 in March 2020 … to 1,857 in March 2023," Hatchard wrote.

Vitalité Health Network said it has 102 vacant physician positions.

A spokesperson for Horizon Health said it has 150 vacancies, with 67 those in family medicine and 83 in specialty positions.

"We do expect that the Practice Ready Assessment New Brunswick will help identify and expedite suitable candidates," said Kerry Kennedy, in an email.

Timeline unclear

LeBlanc said the next steps are to recruit and train assessors in the province. She was unable to provide a timeline, but said once members of the first group complete the assessments successfully, they will be able to practise relatively quickly.

The newly licensed doctors will enter into a contract with the provincial government to work in New Brunswick for a "return of service" period, LeBlanc said, meaning they'll have to work in the province for a certain period of time after getting licensed. Just how long that "will be made available soon," the College of Physicians and Surgeons says on its website.

The college and its partners are also considering an orientation program that would bring in multicultural organizations to help doctors feel welcome.

"What we want is for this to succeed," LeBlanc said. "We know that retention is directly related to integration, so we want to make sure that the integration part is also a priority during the process."

Dr. Paula Keating, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society called the program "a good step in expediting the process for internationally trained physicians to begin practicing in the province."

She said, in an email, that "having a simpler, more efficient program like this in place should help in recruiting these physicians."

LeBlanc said she is looking forward to having assessors across the province and to welcoming their first group.

About one-third of all doctors in the province are internationally trained, she said, and the college hopes bringing in more will be part of the solution to New Brunswick's doctor shortage.