Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a policy in place. I do acknowledge that the policy is quite old, and we have heard significant feedback from residents from across the Northwest Territories that it does need to be reviewed. We have committed to doing that review. I did meet with Members in January to talk about the review, the timeline for the review. We will have a policy, a redrafted policy shortly, and from there we will have an opportunity to discuss and go out for consultation on the individual components which do include escorts. We will have an opportunity to amend that portion of the...

Those discussions still need to be had and ironed out, for the most part. We do know we want to, and must, maintain regional and community input, but every region and every authority that exists today is different and has a different catchment area, and the individuals that need to be represented may be different, so it’s not going to be one model fits all. We’re going to have to talk to the people from the Deh Cho with respect to that particular area, as we’ll need to talk to the people from the Tlicho, the Sahtu, the Beaufort-Delta as well as Yellowknife. We need to have those discussions...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are committed to ensuring that we have mechanisms that allow the voice of the people to be heard with respect to health and social services authorities. The Member is right; we do have a public administrator providing us the direction from the Dehcho at this point in time. We are exploring options for changing our structure so that we can provide better health, better care and better results for our residents throughout the Northwest Territories. In that model, I believe and I’m committed to ensuring that the people for the regions and the communities continue to...

I am happy to work with the Member. I am happy to walk down the hall to his office. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “A Framework for Early Childhood Development in the NWT, Action Plan.”

With respect to this particular case, I’m certainly willing to have some conversations with the Member. I also know that the department is working and will work with the individual to explore these exception opportunities.

When an individual goes on medical travel, they work with the medical travel unit. They usually get a pamphlet with contact numbers, who they can contact within medical travel should there be any problems with their plans. In this case, it was my understanding that this person went down and something happened to them when they were down there, so they weren’t taken down on...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have more than 13,000 patient cases that are managed by the medical travel system a year, so it’s a significant load. For the individuals that are going through medical travel, I mean, for the most part, they’re focused on their diagnosis and treatment. For many of them, most of them, the medical travel system seems to work, but as I’ve heard from Members, as I’ve heard from the public, as I heard from the MLA again today with the particular case that he’s brought forward, there are people that are frustrated with the medical travel system. We know we can do better...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have been in the hospital, too, and have been asked to turn off my phones as well. It’s my understanding that the technology interferes with some of the technical equipment in the hospital, which is why they encourage patient residents to turn off their phones. But for the technical specifics, I will certainly follow up with the authority to find out the exact reason. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

We’re always looking for opportunities and ways to help contain costs around medical travel. We know that medical travel is a significant expense on the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories, and we are committed to completing the review and having the policy forward for discussion within the life of this Assembly.

The Medical Travel Policy requires that travel must originate in the Northwest Territories. However, for the case like the one the Member is talking about, there is a process to consider exceptional circumstances, which I know the department is doing. They are aware of this situation. They will be in touch with the individual and they will work with the individual to see what can be done to address this particular concern.

This is the type of information that is helping us have an informed discussion around medical travel as we move forward, and a significant amount of work has already been...