New Medical Society president calls for better physician recruitment and more innovative health-care

Summerside surgeon, Dr. David Bannon, was named the Medical Society of Prince Edward Island (MSPEI) President at its annual meeting on May 23, 2019.

Dr. David Bannon has been a general surgeon, based at Prince County Hospital, for the past 16 years.

Dr. Bannon returned to the role as President of the Medical Society after previously leading the organization from 2012 to 2015. Since then he has remained actively involved with MSPEI and the health-care system in multiple capacities.

During his year as President, Dr. Bannon plans to continue advancing the priorities of MSPEI by working alongside government to improve long-term issues such as physician recruitment and igniting more innovation in the health-care sector.

“I’m particularly interested in helping our province be bolder in how we provide innovative care, including the concept of virtual care,” said Dr. Bannon. “I can’t accept that our small size and remote location should prevent our patients from having access to world-class medical expertise, timely care and real-time support in managing illnesses. Studies have shown, virtual care can improve health-care outcomes, help recruit physicians, and reduce system costs.”

While virtual care has a role in our health-care system, Dr. Bannon emphasized the priority to do better in recruiting physicians.

“We must do better in how we recruit doctors,” said Dr. Bannon. “This never became clearer when a survey released earlier this year told us 46 per cent of PEI’s physicians are planning to leave the province, retire or reduce their workload.

“From having doctors recruit doctors to being more agile in where we locate physicians, the Medical Society has lots of ideas on how we can do better in bringing doctors to our province. We hope to work with government to see those ideas become a reality.”

Dr. Bannon will serve as MSPEI President for one year. He was born in Santa Monica, California, received his medical degree at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Illinois and completed his residency in general surgery at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California. Dr. Bannon and his wife Colleen, a native Islander, live in Kensington, PEI and have three grown children.