N.W.T. ‘s Health and Social Services Authority says that a new shift bidding system has been effective keeping Stanton Territorial hospital’s Emergency Department fully staffed with doctors for the month of July and most of August.
“It is a tremendous relief to look at the ED schedule and see that most of the shifts are filled,” said Dr. Courtney Howard, president of the NWT Medical Association, in an announcement released by the medical authority yesterday afternoon.
The new bidding system was recently implemented to help combat major doctor staffing shortages. It has allowed doctors to set their wages for working particular shifts. The authority said the strategy was put in place to prevent the use of extreme contingency measures in the hospital’s ER.
The authority said the new system was put in place quickly to ensure physician staffing would not be disrupted. The move was also meant to reflect the health authority’s commitment to staff and stakeholders and to respond to their collective needs, said the health authority.
“Required shifts” In Stanton’s ER for July and most of August have been filled, which suggests there will not be a need to implement additional contingency measures, said the authority.
The health authority plans to review “lessons learned” from the bidding process together with feedback they received, to “strengthen” its ongoing contingency planning work.
Dr. Howard celebrated the news, voicing strong support for the system as a move in the right direction.
“It is a tremendous relief to look at the ED schedule and see that most of the shifts are filled and know that we will be able to provide care in safe and healthy way. We thank NTHSSA for the shift-bidding initiative which has led to this reassuring result. We understand that moving forward the thought is to develop a mechanism whereby similar initiatives can be used during other anticipated high-needs times. We strongly support this as a proactive approach to prevent the stress involved in last-minute staffing crises,” said Dr. Howard.
A couple of weeks ago, on July 7, the health authority announced the implementation of the temporary shift bidding system for summer staffing at Stanton Territorial Hospital’s ER department. Officials said the new system was part of the contingency measures announced previously.
“This new system is designed to attract and recruit locum physicians for high-demand periods between July 15, 2025 and September 2, 2025. This timeframe is a peak period for staffing needs at STH ED, as many staff physicians request time off and locums are typically scheduled to work in other areas,” said the authority a couple of weeks ago when the system change was announced.
The bidding system is aimed towards appealing to doctors to offer greater flexibility and enhanced compensation opportunities for locum physicians opting to take on critical summer shifts.
“This initiative reflects our ongoing commitment to listening to staff and stakeholders and put their ideas into action to see what might work best to support our needs,” said Dan Florizone, Public Administrator at the time of the announcement.
“This is a new initiative that may evolve over time, but we welcome the opportunity to implement it quickly to meet immediate needs and learn as we go,” continued Florizone.
Doctor Claudia Kraft, who is the territorial medical director, praised the move saying it responded to the needs of locum doctors and also staff physicians.
“We’ve listened closely to the needs of our healthcare professionals and continue to hear about the importance of competitive compensation for locums while ensuring flexibility for our staff physicians, particularly during the summer months,” she said. “It’s also about ensuring that those working are not burdened with long hours or excessive back-to-back shifts. We want our ED to continue to be a place of work that is attractive to physicians. I know that being a part of a team delivering high-quality care, with the right fit of compensation and benefits matters greatly to staff physician and locums alike,” said Dr. Kraft.
