Dr. Tom Costello says it is very difficult to find doctors willing to work in western Labrador. (CBC)

Patients are waiting far too long in Newfoundland and Labrador's emergency rooms, often for services that should be provided elsewhere, doctors say.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association says wait times in local emergency rooms are three times longer than the Canadian average, largely because of too few physicians in the field.

The NLMA, which has been in a bargaining stalemate with the provincial government headed by Danny Williams, stepped up its public advocacy campaign Monday with a focus on ER waits.

"I had a patient show up in [the] emergency department for a refill of their blood-pressure medication because they could not access their family physician for a month," said Dr. Shawn Tiller, who has seen plenty of so-called orphan patients at the hospital in Gander.

Tiller said physicians need a far better contract to lure and then keep family doctors in local communities, as well as doctors to handle ERs specifically.

Tiller said a better compensation package would help solve recruitment problems.

"So we can look at other physicians in this country, look them square in the eye and say, 'This is a fantastic province to come to work in,' " he said.

The NLMA last month asked for binding arbitration to resolve a sometimes bitter confrontation with the government. Both Williams and Health Minister Jerome Kennedy have made sharply critical remarks about some physicians and the NLMA's leadership.

The government has said it is willing to negotiate at the bargaining table, rather than bring in an arbitrator.

Dr. Tom Costello, a family doctor who has often worked 24-hour shifts at the ER in Labrador City, said the area has been unable to find new physicians, even though the hospital in nearby Fermont, Que., is fully staffed.

"Recruitment at best in Labrador West is atrocious," Costello told reporters.

"But retention is even worse because of work overload, increasing responsibilities for the physicians and lack of basic infrastructure such as a CT scanner."

The NLMA said its proposal to government includes a joint review of the entire emergency care system, including how ERs are staffed and operated. Doctors said they have yet to receive an adequate response from the government on that proposal.