Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Minister has responded in writing to my previous oral questions on midwifery and the answers are not inspiring. The reply says, “analysis to develop an expanded NWT model of midwifery care will be undertaken in 2011-12.” Unfortunately, the exact same promise precisely mirrors a November 9, 2009, letter from the department’s deputy minister. That work was to be completed in three weeks, Mr. Speaker.
When is the Minister going to get serious on this? Is the work starting now? Next month? When is the work starting? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is quoting two different letters and without knowing the specific context of what we were speaking to in 2009 and 2011, I think it’s unfortunate that he’s making such a generalization.
I want to just state for the record that I, as the Minister, and the department have been very clear that we support expansion of the Midwifery Program in the Northwest Territories. The program has been under stress because we had to go through renewing the THAF funding, which is from the money that we fund the Midwifery Program now. The next phase that we are working on for 2011 and 2012, we are doing an in-depth analysis to see how much money will be required to expand the Midwifery Program and what the accepted standard is in the industry.
Mr. Speaker, the work that we did in 2009 is different than the work that we are doing in 2011 and 2012. I believe 2009 has to do with finding the money immediately to fund the positions in Fort Smith. Thank you.
The Minister says she is serious, but her written reply to my question goes on to say that the now 2011-12 analysis will be brought forward for the 2013-14 year business plans. Review promised this year, now in the coming year, not even in the business plans until the second year after that, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister has almost carried this baby to full term…
---Laughter
...the full term of this Assembly. Why does she think expanded midwifery should go into the incubator for yet another year before we even see it in the business plans?
Because, Mr. Speaker, we have to be serious about the complexities of the budgeting process, the business plan process and the work required to give birth to a full-fledged Midwifery Program. As that letter indicated, we are reviewing the Midwifery Program and analyzing the cost requirements for 2011 and 2012 with a view to putting it into the fiscal year 2013-14.
Mr. Speaker, our department is doing the work that’s required to see what kind of resource requirements that we need to undertake in order expand the Midwifery Program we have. Thank you.
That response is pitiful. We have people out there, having babies, that are demanding this service. To take four years to do this, Mr. Speaker, is, well, unacceptable. Mr. Speaker, we need to get on with this. The Minister could take a page from her colleague, the Minister of ITI, who designed a film industry review with the full participation of industry in devising the terms of reference, participation from the ground up. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to including the informed and committed midwifery advocates and an early start on terms of reference for this analysis? Thank you.
I hope the young debaters watching us in the House can carry their debates without using a word like “pitiful” and some silly words like that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we take this work of reviewing the Midwifery Program very, very seriously. We only fund two positions in Fort Smith, which is not an ideal situation. We also have a situation in Yellowknife where we have one midwife. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the House that we are doing an in-depth review of this and we believe that we need a comprehensive, wide-ranging program to make a real business case for real dollars. We believe that we need at least four midwives in a program, for example.
Mr. Speaker, we’re doing a full review and, yes, we will consult with groups outside of the department. I would also like to advise the Members that we have a lot of knowledge in-house, as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not talking about groups, I’m talking about people with real experience. I would just like to say a personal note, Mr. Speaker. I’ve recently become a proud great-uncle for the second time.
---Applause
My nephew and his wife report the following experience: With her first baby and under the care from a midwife, benefits were clear. With the second baby and no care from a midwife, they were in hospital on repeated occasions. My niece reports these hospital visits would not have happened had she been under the same midwifery care as with her first child.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to tapping the wisdom and experience of midwifery clients by including interviews with parents in the terms of reference? Thank you.
We have lots of anecdotal statements from those who use midwives to tell us how well that works, but we also believe that the Midwifery Program we have right now is too heavily medically-based, so we are going to be looking at the experience and examples of Nunavut, where they have come up with a model that is less medically based.
We also, as the Minister and the department, would like to see the Midwifery Program expand outside of Yellowknife, because Yellowknife has a lot more service from physicians and health care providers, but we would like to explore a model in regional settings where we could do more traditional and less medically-based midwifery programs. I can assure the Member that we will consult with the clients who have used the system as well as the midwives, but we are going to look beyond that because we want to come up with an original NWT-based and community-based Midwifery Program. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
