I stepped onto the third floor of Queen Elizabeth Hospital on a crisp November morning, the hallway bustling in a way that felt different from my last visit in 2022. Back then, nurses moved with the hurried tension of people perpetually understaffed, hallways occasionally lined with patients waiting for beds. Today, charge nurse Samantha Wright greeted me with a tired smile but steady eyes.
“We’re not out of the woods,” she said, leading me through the medical unit, “but for the first time in years, I’m not constantly worried about who’s going to cover the next shift.”
Prince Edward Island’s healthcare system has long suffered the same staffing challenges that plague much of Canada, but recent data suggests the island province might be turning a corner after implementing an aggressive retention and recruitment strategy that began in earnest 18 months ago.
Health PEI reports that nursing vacancy rates have dropped from a concerning 19% in early 2022 to 11% as of September 2023. Physician recruitment has also seen modest gains, with 15 new family doctors establishing practices across the island since January – the most successful recruitment period in five years.
“The numbers are encouraging, but what matters most is what this means for patients,” says Dr. Michael Gardam, CEO of Health PEI. “Wait times for certain procedures have decreased by about 14%, and we’ve had far fewer temporary emergency department closures this year compared to last.”
I spent three days traveling across PEI, visiting rural clinics and urban hospitals to understand what’s changing – and what isn’t – in a healthcare system that islanders often describe as both deeply personal and frequently frustrating.
In Summerside, I met Jennifer MacDonald, a registered nurse who returned to PEI last year after working in Toronto for seven years. She unpacked groceries in her kitchen while explaining her decision.
“The retention bonus definitely helped,” she said, referring to the $8,000 annual incentive the province introduced for nurses who commit to staying on the island. “But honestly, I came back because they finally addressed the workload issues. The mandatory overtime was killing people’s spirits.”
The province’s strategy has been multifaceted. Beyond financial incentives, they’ve implemented team-based care models that distribute responsibilities more evenly across healthcare professionals. New collaborative emergency centres in rural communities have helped reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments while providing stable employment for practitioners who prefer predictable hours.
At Western Hospital in Alberton, physician assistant Thomas Reid showed me how their virtual care program connects patients with doctors when local physicians aren’t available. “We’ve gone from being closed two or three nights a week to maintaining 24/7 coverage,” Reid explained, demonstrating the technology that connects patients with off-site physicians when necessary.
The program began as a stopgap measure but has become an essential component of PEI’s rural healthcare delivery, according to data from Health PEI. Patient satisfaction surveys show 87% of residents rate these virtual consultations as “good” or “excellent,” particularly appreciating not having to travel to Summerside or Charlottetown for care.
Not everyone is celebrating, however. In a Charlottetown coffee shop, I spoke with Brenda Campbell, who’s been waiting 14 months for knee replacement surgery.
“They keep talking about improvements,” she said, wincing slightly as she adjusted in her seat. “But when you’re the one in pain every day, waiting and waiting, those statistics don’t mean much.”
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, PEI’s surgical backlogs remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, with orthopedic procedures facing particular challenges. While the province has reduced diagnostic imaging wait times through extended hours and new equipment, surgical capacity continues to lag behind demand.
The healthcare worker perspective reveals a cautious optimism. At a staff meeting in Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s cafeteria, I listened as nurses, administrators, and physicians discussed recent changes.
“The culture is shifting,” observed Dr. Sarah Macdonald, who completed her residency in Halifax before returning to practice family medicine in her home province. “There’s more willingness to try new approaches, more support for work-life balance. That matters enormously for retention.”
The data supports her impression. Staff surveys show a 22% increase in job satisfaction among healthcare workers compared to 2021, according to internal Health PEI reports shared during my visit.
The province’s approach hasn’t been without controversy. Some rural communities have seen services consolidated, and the implementation of the physician assistant program faced initial resistance from some medical professionals concerned about scope of practice issues.
Health Minister Mark McLane acknowledges the challenges. “We’ve had to make difficult decisions about resource allocation,” he told me during an interview in his Charlottetown office. “But we’re guided by evidence about what delivers the best outcomes for islanders with the resources we have.”
The province has invested $45 million in healthcare workforce initiatives since 2022, funded partially through federal health transfers that were specifically earmarked for human resources in healthcare. While substantial, this represents just over 5% of PEI’s annual health budget.
For patients like Gerald Arsenault in Tignish, the changes have been life-altering. When I visited his home near the northern tip of the island, he described how collaborative care has improved his diabetes management.
“Before, I’d see my doctor maybe once every few months, if I was lucky,” he said, showing me the digital blood glucose monitoring system that connects to his healthcare team. “Now I work with a nurse practitioner regularly, a dietitian helped me completely change how I eat, and my doctor oversees everything. My A1C is the best it’s been in twenty years.”
As the sun set over Northumberland Strait on my final evening in PEI, I walked along the Victoria Park boardwalk with nurse practitioner Kelly Ferguson, who summed up the cautious optimism I’d encountered throughout my visit.
“We’re breathing a little easier,” she said, watching the waves lap against the shore. “But healthcare systems are fragile. One retirement, one budget cut, and progress can slip away. What’s different now is that we have evidence that change is possible. That matters.”
For a province accustomed to losing healthcare professionals to larger centers, that evidence of improvement might be the most significant change of all.
