Sandy Lee

Mr. Speaker, yes, I would endeavour to do that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I could remind the Member that I did make that commitment to review this and get back to the Member. There are lots of issues associated with this. I will once again make a commitment to get back to the Member on our analysis and review. Thank you.

Obviously the what, the how, the why, and how to implement such a policy is one that the committee is reviewing, among other things, to give advice to the management of the hospital. That is part of the work that the council is doing. I am aware they have been working on that. I will get back to the Member as soon as they are able to provide that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, the Stanton Territorial Health Authority has an elders council that has been reviewing issues as the Member mentioned and in particular they have been reviewing that option. I have not received a report back from the council, so I will let the Member know as soon as I get it. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, I don’t believe there is any government employee who would be driving a vehicle without proper coverage. I don’t think it is sensible to paint with a general brush expenses associated having a meal versus operating a vehicle. As I mentioned already, this is complex. The department is reviewing that. We will get back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I made a commitment in the House to review this issue and get back to the Member. Right now I can’t remember exactly where it is, but I will undertake to get back to the Member on that review. Thank you.

Without having reviewed the specific situation I’m not able to say right now whether or not this is a deficiency in the policy or it’s a case of someone just not using the full breadth of the policy. I do need to look at this first.

Right now we do not have an appeal mechanism under the medical policy. That’s the second part of the question. The review that we’re doing of the policy will contemplate that and the changes that we’re suggesting in other policy that we can’t talk about yet, we are looking at that as a part of the larger review of the medical policy. In this situation I’m hesitant...

Yes, I would be interested in looking at that I will get back to the Member quickly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member brought this matter to my attention about 11:00 this morning. My staff and her staff are looking at the specific situation, but I do agree with the Member that we need to make sure that the students who are away and considered NWT residents in any other way should be able to take advantage of their medical travel. So I am reviewing the policy; not the policy, I have to first find out what is going on with this. I’m sure within the policy we can make this happen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to add a few notes about the principles and policies behind the long-term care facility planning within the Department of Health and Social Services.

Persons currently placed in long-term care facilities in the NWT may be of any age. They may be placed in a facility specializing in a certain type of care. There are those who are severely disabled, cognitively impaired in early to advanced stages, frail and elderly and those who need respite care or palliative care in hospital settings or long-term care facilities.

As the Member has mentioned, our senior...