Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of factors that we utilize when deciding whether to employ nurses throughout the Northwest Territories. The Integrated Service Delivery Model sets out standards for community health staff across the Northwest Territories. But as I indicated, when asked questions previously, it is under review and we are looking for ways to enhance the services in our small communities. RCMP is but one factor. It is not the deciding factor by any stretch of the imagination. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We obviously take these types of situations very seriously and we are doing a number of things within the department and our authorities to control infections but also report on infections. One of the things that we have done is we have defined minimum competencies and skill sets for all practitioners within our system, and we review and modernize existing infection and control standards and standards for sterilization on a regular basis. We’ve also implemented a surveillance system of reportable infections and we’re working to develop, or we have developed and implemented reporting and...

There are a number of infections that are not reportable under the Public Health Act because hospitals are required to monitor these under their own set of regulations. However, as we get copies of lab results and other things, we’re able to determine where some of these exist.

With respect to a greater level of reporting on these particular infections, certainly I’d love to have some more discussion with the Member as well as committee to find out or to improve the system that we have in place. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s an incredibly detailed question, but I will certainly get back to the department to see if we can figure out what that discrepancy has resulted from. Thank you.

We have a new NWT Infection Prevention and Control Manual that was released in 2012. It contains all the standards of practice required by health care facilities to prevent and control the spread of infectious disease. The manual has been distributed throughout the Northwest Territories. Health and social services authorities have a lead responsibility to implement and audit these standards within their facilities and client service settings, but we have sent that out to all authorities. Thank you.

I’ll get the Member an update on the current status. I will say that obviously we want to fill these positions with the professionals identified in the job description to provide the services that we are committed to providing, so we will always want to fill that with a social worker. But you’re right; some positions are proving hard to recruit and we need to be open to some creativity in order to find ways to continue to provide those services, regardless of our ability to staff or not staff positions.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of the priorities of this unit has been since we’ve brought them over from the Department of Human Resources is to review the existing programs and services they are providing and start putting together a long-term strategic human resource plan for health professionals within the Northwest Territories. That work is still underway and we’re hoping to have a draft strategic human resource plan that we can bring to committee to have a discussion about things that we need to do and things we need to change. There are a number of areas in programs that we have delivered...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll start off with the financial bit. We do have a $30 million reduction exercise coming in front of us the next couple of years to make up some of the financial shortfalls that we are aware of. We can never ignore that there are those challenges in front of us.

Having said that, this government, with support of committee, has done a significant amount of work on mental health and addictions. We have options in front of our residents today that did not exist previously. A resident who requires detox can go to one of our hospitals and receive detox. Withdrawal management...

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are a couple new positions within this unit. The anti-poverty coordinator position is in this unit. I’m going to go to the deputy minister for the specific details.

Yes, these are grants and contributions going to the health authorities. Then under fees and payments, insured services for non-NWT residents went up $4 million.