Business Retention and Expansion Study for Collingwood's
Medical/Health Sector

Final Report - July 2008

Background

In December 2007, Collingwood Economic Development approached more than 120 assorted Medical/Health practitioners to gather information on the state of their practices and themselves. As well they were invited to provide their perceptions of the community.

While some simply ignored the invitation to be interviewed or participate in the BR+E process, some declined without reason; others felt they could add limited value given their circumstances or had no time to participate. Eventually, 72 of those approached agreed to participate in the Business Retention and Expansion questionnaire/interview process. It should be noted that the representative sampling from 72 respondents incorporates collective responses from group practices.

Of significance is the identification by the greater majority of the respondents that skill shortages in Collingwood is not a major factor inhibiting our community’s economic prosperity and growth. In particular, the Medical/Health Sector identified very limited difficulty in attracting or retaining trained support staff to the Collingwood community.

Further, the provincial headquarters of a very innovative medical training initiative, the Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP) has been located in Collingwood for the past twenty years with their very dedicated staff consistently and successfully attracting residents, medical clerks and other medical students to this community for training in rural medicine. Of particular pride to this group is that more than 10 of these students selected Collingwood and area to open their medical practices upon graduation.

As a separate issue, and previously identified in other sectors, are the challenges or obstacles associated with retaining medical professionals to the community because of deficiencies in professional employment opportunities for their spouse/partner.


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