Glen Abernethy

Actually, Stanton already did consider this. They explored it and there were a couple concerns that they raised. Number one, it’s not particularly culturally sensitive. It also doesn’t really articulate or recognize the fact that sometimes people are missing appointments for reasons beyond their control such as medical travel, flight delays. A lot of the people utilizing the speciality clinic are coming in from other communities to receive those services. Also, in a time of fiscal restraint and being prudent with our dollars, there is also a cost to it, a cost that has to come from somewhere...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is still in place. We have had some difficulties over the year with some specific issues, but for the details, I will go to the deputy for that.

That claim has never been made to me. I’d certainly be interested in where it came from and we could certainly look into the details, but that is not something that has been articulated to me in the past.

I can’t honestly remember which communities are actually currently filled and which communities are not filled. We do have turnover in these communities, but I will commit to getting that information for the Member.

I’d also like to ask the Member if he could share that document with us that articulates the individuals he feels are being failed and we can have further discussion on that as well. Thank you.

I do acknowledge this is certainly more complex than it was before. This offers way more detail than the budget did in previous years. When we indicated to committee that we were going to be moving to a system that actually provided some consistency between the authorities and the department and was consistent with the CIHI definitions of different program areas, we did offer a briefing. We ran out of time. We’d be happy to come back and give committee a briefing on these new categories and how they relate. There is some certain crossover. Some of the money will fall into multiple areas for...

Our long-term care facilities here in the Northwest Territories are staffed by competent professionals, including nurses and doctors, who actually can provide a wide range of services to individuals.

I would encourage any resident of the Northwest Territories who has concerns about their individual care to talk with their physicians to make sure that they are getting the services that they are entitled to in the Northwest Territories, and if they have any concerns about the quality within the facility, I would strongly encourage them to contact the quality assurance staff within the department...

Thank you, Madam Chair. It’s my understanding that that review by the auditors here in the Northwest Territories was done in 2008, and they made a number of recommendations. Most of them, I believe, we actually did incorporate into the health care cards here in the Northwest Territories.

We share the Member’s concerns. We want to make sure that our residents’ information is secure. We’ve had lots of conversations about some of the recent incidents around health care cards with the Information and Privacy Commissioner. She’s made a number of recommendations and we’re certainly looking at...

The Member is correct; the speciality clinics portion is mostly the speciality clinics located out of Stanton. Stanton does track that information but I just don’t have it at my fingertips, so I will commit to getting it to the Member in committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for the record, there is an additional $226,553 for community-based respite that goes to the NWT Disabilities Council. So the $183,000 is not the only money that they’re getting.

As I indicated previously, we are working with them and we’re hoping to see a revised disabilities action plan and that may come with some financial asks. We’re looking forward to seeing that document when it is concluded, at which point we’ll be having, I’m certain, some discussions with the committee on that.

With respect to handivans and other programs, we believe that the individual...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I did have some initial conversations with the Minister of Health and Social Services for Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. They have since stopped being the Ministers of Health and Social Services, so I will follow up with the new Ministers to see if there’s any interest in a pan-territorial approach. Thank you.