Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services on medical travel. I spoke earlier about the incident with the person from Tulita on her experience with the Medical Travel Policy. This is only one incident of probably many across the Northwest Territories and from the smaller communities.
Can the Minister tell me how soon the Medical Travel Policy revision will be before the House so we can have some good discussion and have this type of incident be looked at with the revisions of the new Medical Travel Policy? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
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, and we need to do better for our residents.
The Medical Travel Policy is currently under review. We want to have a Medical Travel Policy that is hassle free for all of our patients. In part of the modernization we’re looking at improving our patient experiences, we’re looking for developing a clear policy that allows for change and some flexibility. We need to create a program, efficiencies to help us with cost control and cost containment as we move forward.
On January 16th I had an opportunity to meet with MLAs and talk about the review, and I committed and showed at that time a bit of a work plan. We are committed to having that review done and a policy for discussion with the MLAs early in the fiscal year. It’s going to be a multiple approach. I mean, we’re going to work on a territorial policy, but there are also sub-categories that we need to look at, things like escorts, things like co-payments, things like patient boarding as well. We’re looking at having an appeal process that doesn’t currently exist. All of that’s going to happen starting in the fiscal year coming. We will have some policies to have the discussions with MLAs on.
As part of this Medical Travel Policy revision, I want to ask the Minister, would he commit to talking to this person or have the department talk to this person on her experience after surgery and what type of frustration she had to undergo and the agonizing speaking to medical travel to get her back? That’s not even getting her back to Tulita. She had to get her own way back from Norman Wells to Tulita, and this is only one of many incidents.
Is there a place where people that go through this type of experience can say this is what’s happening now with the Medical Travel Policy today? This is in real time. I’m hoping that this incident will not repeat itself in the history.
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 done. Much of the information is manual, so significant manual evaluations and reports and audits that have been done previously have been done by the department. We’ve had to pull out data to help us make informed decisions. As I indicated, there has been a work plan developed which we have shared with Members, and significant personal resources within the department are being invested in trying to improve this policy for the residents of the Northwest Territories.
When patients are sent to Edmonton, and in regard to this patient from Tulita, are our patients given a phone number, a contact person in Edmonton where sometimes it might be out of the Medical Travel Policy but they’re down there for, like, this instance, which is unique? Are they given some type of support down there? Because this person went through her surgery, and after surgery there was no assistance and no support for her. She basically was on her own, and she had to fight medical travel to get her ticket paid back to Norman Wells. That’s not even getting her back to Tulita. Her husband had to come from Tulita and bring her back from Norman Wells to Tulita after surgery. Is there any type of special circumstances like that where patients know that they’re going to get support? Basically, she was left abandoned in Edmonton. I want to ask the Minister, is there any type of process in place right now?
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 medical travel, so they may not have had those contact numbers. We will certainly be working with that client.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you. I appreciate that from the Minister, to look into this specific case here, and again, looking forward to the type of new policies that are going to be put in place and have in our discussions. For example, patients come to the Wells to Yellowknife and then they find that there is a cheaper way to get back to their community. They make a suggestion and medical travel say no, you have to go back on this type of route there, so there is some uniqueness to our situations in our small communities.
I want to ask the Minister, does he foresee that this medical travel will be put in place within the life of this government so that it will be implemented within the life of this government here?
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.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
