Longtime CancerCare MD delivers forceful second opinion on health agency’s dire diagnosis By: Tyler Searle Posted: 7:00 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 Last Modified: 8:08 PM CST Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 Updates

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A long-serving physician is speaking out in support of CancerCare Manitoba, fearing widespread allegations of mismanagement from other facility staff will shake patients’ faith in the provincial agency to which he has dedicated his professional life.

“I’m hurt; I’m very hurt. We are doing our best and now our reputation is changing,” said Dr. Bashir Bashir, a radiation oncologist who has worked with CancerCare for more than 20 years.

“Any person in Winnipeg, they have a friend or relative with cancer. These are cancer patients, so if they lose their trust in CancerCare, this is a big disaster.”

Bashir, who was a physician in Libya before moving to Manitoba and beginning a residency at CancerCare in 2004, said he was frustrated by details contained within a 14-page Doctors Manitoba report released internally this week.

The physician advocacy organization’s document outlined grievances from dozens of CancerCare physicians. Nurses and allied health workers have also stepped forward to voice complaints about the management-created “toxic” workplace, chronic staff shortages and burnout from heavy patient workloads.

Bashir did not discount their accounts, but said the comments have cast an unfair light on the agency, which has long set the standard for exemplary cancer treatment in Manitoba and beyond.

“There are issues, I’m not saying there’s nothing there, but not to the extent it’s made out to be,” he said.

The doctor spoke rapidly — sometimes for more than 10 minutes at a time without a break — during an expansive phone interview with the Free Press Wednesday night.

He stressed disputes with leadership should not reflect poorly on physicians and their commitment to patient care.

“I agree physician burnout is real; it’s across specialties and across the country. There is no question the pandemic made this worse, (but it is) not specific to Manitoba,” Bashir said.

“There are issues, I’m not saying there’s nothing there, but not to the extent it’s made out to be.”–Dr. Bashir Bashir

“Every patient, when they reach CancerCare, they should know they are in good hands… my problem is when the patient doesn’t have trust in the institution, in their physician. That is half the battle of the cancer treatment.”

The Doctors Manitoba report included anonymous responses from 57 physicians and said it found credible concerns of favouritism, distrust in executive leaders and fear of reprisal for speaking out. It raised further alarm over wait lists, chronic turnover and recruitment challenges.

Jeoff Chipman, chair of the CancerCare Manitoba board, has disputed some of those claims, saying wait lists are being managed and the agency has successfully recruited specialists to fill all but one of its outstanding vacancies.

Nurses and allied health professionals have suffered turnover in recent months as well, but CancerCare argued vacancy rates for support staff have been steadily decreasing.

“As far as I know, we have the best working environment compared to any other specialty in the province. Even though we do have vacancies for support staff,” Bashir said. “We do need more oncologists but it’s difficult to find across provinces.”

Bashir said he fears the report could scare off some physicians who might have considered coming to Manitoba, where he said the weather and a relatively small job market already present recruitment challenges.

Doctors Manitoba said Thursday the report wasn’t intended for public consumption.

“Our review was necessary, as the level of heavy workload, burnout and distress is simply not sustainable,” spokesperson Keir Johnson said in an email. “Our report was intended to be internal and it followed months of physicians attempting to escalate concerns internally but being met with inaction by the organization.

“The risk of public scrutiny was carefully weighed against the crisis level of physician distress and the risk of losing more doctors and eroding patient care.”

“Our report was intended to be internal and it followed months of physicians attempting to escalate concerns internally but being met with inaction by the organization.”–Keir Johnson, Doctors Manitoba

Johnson agreed CancerCare “has historically had a strong and reliable reputation for excellence.”

“While our review found serious workplace cultural concerns, we also found all physicians had a deep commitment to high quality patient care,” he said.

“No patient with suspected cancer or undergoing treatment should ever hesitate to contact their doctor or CancerCare, and they should feel reassured by the dedication to patient care we observed.”

Physicians are typically drawn to the Manitoba by the promise of high pay, Bashir said, pointing to a remuneration agreement signed in September that was retroactive to April 1, 2023.

Bashir said the agreement places CancerCare physicians on par with similar jurisdictions in Canada.

He stressed physicians who work on call, overtime or weekend clinics are entitled to “supernumerary payments,” sometimes totalling thousands of dollars per day.

The Doctors Manitoba report acknowledged that additional pay, but noted the issue “has not been about remuneration” but the “chronic unsustainable need for overtime, escalating burnout as a result, and the potential for this to impact patient care if it can’t be sustained.”

The report included feedback from nine doctors who spoke favourably of CancerCare, but the document suggested some respondents may have been coached or coerced into doing so.

“The oncologists who wrote positively about the work environment at CancerCare Manitoba did so of their own volition. I am not aware of any oncologist being coerced to write a positive note,” Bashir said.

“If there are oncologists who do feel that wrongdoing has happened to them, they need to come forward (and) identify the specific issues so that these can be investigated and appropriate action taken.”

Doctors Manitoba has asked the Manitoba ombudsman to review CancerCare, saying it uncovered additional, unspecified allegations that were “more serious” and beyond the scope of its authority to investigate.

The ombudsman’s office cannot confirm whether it has launched an investigation, it said in a statement.

“In assessing new matters brought to our office, we review all relevant information and applicable laws to determine whether the matter falls under our office’s jurisdiction,” it said. “We also assess the purpose and focus of the investigation. We provide updates on the status of specific complaints directly to the people involved.”

Another CancerCare physician, contacted by the Free Press Thursday, spoke to Bashir’s credibility as a physician, calling him “well known,” a “good guy” and “one of the hardest workers” in the agency.

That doctor was not among those who spoke favourably of CancerCare, but echoed some of Bashir’s comments.

“The doctors and the staff that are at CancerCare, they don’t want patients to be concerned. We are being overworked, there are burnout issues, but these are internal issues that can be dealt with,” the physician said.

An online biography for Bashir notes he was tapped to launch a radiation clinic in Brandon in 2011, and was the first oncologist in Manitoba to work outside of Winnipeg.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca