Belleville City Council has voted in favour of the mayor signing a Memorandum of Understanding with other local municipalities to prevent doctor poaching.
A Regional Recruitment Memorandum of Understanding has been developed between five communities with doctor recruitment programs – Belleville, Quinte West, Hastings County, Prince Edward County and Brighton – that would ensure that they do not compete with one another for doctors who have already settled in the region.
This would avoid the potential movement of doctors between municipalities for the purpose of earning a second Return of Service incentive.
Brighton council is discussing the document at its meeting Monday.
Hastings County will consider it on Tuesday and Quinte West on Wednesday.
Although Belleville has wording in its doctor recruitment policy prohibiting the ‘poaching’ of a doctor from another community, staff support a formal agreement with the city’s neighbours in the spirit of cooperation.
