Debates of August 23, 2011 (day 16)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, this is regarding services provided by the health centres in the small and remote communities. Mr. Speaker, has the government addressed any medical services professional staff shortages all across the Northwest Territories, not just in Nunakput, in the Beaufort-Delta, and what solutions are being implemented to try to fix the problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is an ongoing search and recruitment for doctors and nurses especially to provide service outside of Yellowknife. The challenge is, of course, filling the positions, finding the staff that is trained. There is work being done in terms of trying to better coordinate and centralize the decision-making so that we can look at the coverage with doctors.

We’ve invested millions of dollars in training northern nurses. The issue is to get them trained up enough to work in the small communities so that they can provide the services and that we don’t have this issue of gaps in services because there is no available staff. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, exactly how many positions in the Northwest Territories that are related to medical services, especially in the small and remote communities, are vacant? Committing and expanding the staff, pumping more resources is one thing, but hiring is another, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The issue is not so much, in my opinion, the need for additional resources. It’s to try to fill the positions that are already there to avoid the circumstances, that the Member talked about in his statement, where there’s lack of services. The small communities tend to not get the services that they’re expecting on a regular basis, which is a gap that we try to avoid. Thank you.

The Minister said it himself that we’re not getting the services. Mr. Speaker, the policies when dealing with medical conditions and regular checkups are so vulnerable for our elders and our youth, especially for dental and elders for checkups, you know, causing cancer. In cases such as doctor and other staff shortages, the regular procedures should not apply. What is the government doing?

We are making, as I indicated, constant and significant efforts on the recruitment side. We are recruiting from a number of different sources, from the various Internet sources that are available, by word of mouth, looking with ads, we go to fairs, and we continue to train up nurses, as I indicated. But we continue to struggle, as does every jurisdiction in the country, with adequacy, especially when it comes to services in small communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know that the communities bear the brunt of all shortages across the territory when it comes to doctor shortages and nursing. What are the government plans? Is it possible to hire nurses in the communities for long term, and the second part of this is, the checkups are a big thing because they’re sending too many, like Mr. Menicoche said, we’re sending too many people home with just aspirin and they’re not being properly assessed. That scares a lot of people, Mr. Speaker. It’s not, first of all, but it should be taken care of. Is the Minister willing to try to implement to the nursing staff that in the small communities that proper checkups should be done and not just sent home with aspirin or Tylenol? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I indicated to the Member for Nahendeh, I will raise this issue not only with the deputy minister but I’ll be talking to the board chairs about the concern and who, in turn, can talk to the senior staff to deal with the issues and pass on the concern and ensure that every effort is made to provide all the services necessary and that we avoid these types of circumstances. But recognizing, as I said earlier, that over the course of any given day thousands of Northerners successfully go through the doors of health centres. We have to be concerned about those situations that the Member has mentioned and we will take those steps. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.