Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services in follow-up to my Member’s statement on the palliative care benefits program.
I’d like to quickly once again thank the Minister for getting her department to develop some policies and procedures to help reduce the wait times for palliative patients obtaining required medications. Unfortunately, I’m not as convinced as she is that it’s working well. I’ve talked to a number of pharmacists who have indicated they actually are unaware of any changes and they haven’t seen any improvement.
Given that pharmacists are an important part of the process — in fact, they are a key link between the department and the physicians, and ultimately they dispense the medications — I’m curious if the Minister could tell me whether pharmacists were engaged and asked to participate in the development of these policies and procedures to help streamline the distribution of medications for palliative patients.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Mr. Speaker, since the Member raised his question in February and as the letter I’ve provided him a copy of suggests, all the department has done is the most simplified and streamlined process that we could implement in as efficient a manner as possible.
The department has just asked that instead of asking the palliative care patients and physicians to fill out extra forms, as long as the doctor fills out the palliative care, then Green Shield will administer this and turn it around on a 24 hour basis. I’m advised that the pharmacists and other stakeholders have been communicated with in writing. I did make a commitment to the Member that we will consult more deeply with the pharmacists to see if this is working. We have not had any feedback, and I’d be happy to undertake to have that feedback for the Member.
Mr. Speaker, that’s good to hear. The process may in fact work. I don’t know, and the pharmacists don’t know, because they haven’t seen it. I’ve seen the letter that went to the pharmacists. It’s a one page letter with two paragraphs. It’s incredibly vague and just says: Attention pharmacies, authorities and stakeholders. I think we need to work a little harder to get that information to our pharmacists.
I’d like the Minister to commit today to actually have her department contact the pharmacists with a bit more detail as to why and the process they need to follow. It’s not working right now. Patients are still waiting extra periods of time in order to get the drugs they need for palliative care. We’re doing them a disservice. Will the Minister commit to getting this information to the pharmacists so we can actually expedite this process for our residents?
Mr. Speaker, yes. In answering the Member’s question when he raised it for the first time in this session, I did commit to having my officials talk to the pharmacists. That was about seven days ago. We have not had a chance to do that. I don’t really have any feedback. I’d happy to undertake to consult widely not only on this but on some of the issues that the Members are bringing with the pharmacists to see if this is working and, if it’s not, what suggestions they may have to improve that.
Thank you Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi Cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I talked about the RCMP Special Constable program. I would like to follow up my statements with questions for the Minister of Justice. Can the Minister of Justice tell me: what is the status of his discussions, if any, at the most recent federal/provincial/territorial Justice Ministers meeting with respect to aboriginal policing and special constables work?
Thank you Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister of Justice, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for asking that question on special constables. It has been an ongoing discussion on that issue. Just recently, in early September, I went to Quebec City and met with provincial, federal and territorial Ministers at that time. I did stress, as I indicated in my Minister’s statement, the urgency of having special constables in the North — our uniqueness, our isolated post and also the backup plan with nine two-man detachments. It is sometimes difficult.
The Minister of Public Safety was there, Minister Day, and he heard my concerns. He did stress to all of us sitting around the table that he has identified the North as unique — how we deliver, how we charter through the isolated communities. It takes so many hours to get through the communities. Those have been under discussion, and from what I hear, it was a productive meeting with Minister Day. I will certainly follow through with the remark that he has made now that he is back in office, and we will follow through from my department. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell the House how soon we can expect to see special constables in the communities?
Mr. Speaker, I have met with the commissioner of the RCMP and also just last week with the deputy commissioner. I did stress to them the urgency of having to deal with the backup policy — having a special constable in the community. At that time the deputy commissioner did indicate that in early spring they will probably share some announcement. Right now they are working on the job descriptions and the length of time of the training that needs to take place. There are many elements of training to become a special constable. They will be constables similar to the RCMP but without any investigations. Those are issues that they are working out, and they are almost at the final stages. An announcement will likely take place around April next year.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if my communities of Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e would be impacted by the addition of special constables?
Mr. Speaker, we have to focus on the small communities that have two man detachments and also three man detachments and four man detachments, because backup policy does take up a lot of overtime hours for RCMP officers. We need to look after their safety. Those are the areas that we need to focus on. And, yes, the Member’s riding will be positively impacted, and other ridings as well. That’s what we are focusing on, and we’re getting ready for the special announcement in the early new year. We are looking forward to that, and I will continue working with the Members on this particular item. If I have any more news, I will certainly present it to the standing committee.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Oral questions, the honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about the Mackenzie River and the protection that is going to be required through some avenues with the territorial government and the federal government and also with the Protected Area Strategy. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for ENR: in terms of living up to the commitments of the Protected Area Strategy, what is the current status on the Mackenzie Valley five year action plan?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, this Assembly is very interested and concerned about water. We passed a motion in the 15th Assembly where we are the only jurisdiction in Canada that may consider water a basic human right, so we have met that. We are very concerned about the issue of water in this Assembly. We have come forward with the water strategy that is underway, and it is going to be unique. We have worked with the aboriginal governments to do that as well. We worked at reviving the Mackenzie River Basin Board and trying to put the issue of watershed management on the list to get the board together with the Ministers to have some serious discussion about water.
As well, we are working on a land use framework as a territorial government that will allow us to better address the very many planning concerns, in addition to the commitment that we have as one of the partners in the Protected Area Strategy.
Mr. Speaker, I am very happy and very proud when this Assembly is making first commitments to protect the water in the Mackenzie River, and also the 15th Assembly passing the motion saying it’s our right; it’s in our blood down in the Mackenzie Valley.
In terms of protection, I would ask the Minister: would he work very closely with his federal counterparts and the aboriginal groups to have the resources there for the Protected Area Strategy group to implement a critical component of their work in terms of protecting our land and our water in the Mackenzie Valley before development?
Of course we will work with all the stakeholders involved with the Protected Area Strategy. We have a very close working relationship with the aboriginal governments. We have funded…. For example, we assisted Fort Good Hope when we had the Sahtu water conference. We have been involved in various water conferences across the North. As a government we are investing a lot of money in the water strategy, and we are going to continue to invest the resources necessary to work with the aboriginal governments to protect this, one of our most valuable resources.
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister inform this House as to the status of the water resource management strategy? When can we see the final version?
The intention and plan is to have a document complete by March 2009. We are about halfway through the consultation process. We have been taking the strategy around the North. We have taken it up, for example, to the Sahtu water conference. We have consulted with the aboriginal governments. We have a working group that the Premier committed to forming to provide oversight. That document has been vetted, as well, by some of the best water people in the world in terms of making sure we have all the key elements and principles in our strategy. So that process and strategy is coming along. The committee has been briefed, and we will share with them, as well, the midpoint review as we pull together all the consultation that we have had and adjustments that we are intending to make.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to differ with the Minister in terms of the best people and water rights down here in the Mackenzie River, here in the communities. They live off the water; they know their water.
I would like to ask the Minister about the Mackenzie River being labelled as a sensitive cultural, spiritual heritage site that needs to be protected right down the Mackenzie Valley, because we are at ground zero of all the mega developments that are even on the table right now. I would ask the Minister if he would see that the Mackenzie River gets full — the highest — protection in terms of water quality and flow for the people of the Mackenzie Valley.
The water strategy that is under development has a clear blending and recognition of the value of traditional knowledge, natural capital and western science. We recognize very clearly in all our work with the aboriginal governments that, yes, some of the best knowledge we have about water in the Mackenzie River Basin comes from the traditional knowledge of the people that live on the land.
We need to blend that with western science, and we are committed to spending the time and the effort to make sure that we have all the documents and instruments we need to have the best protection possible for the whole Mackenzie River Basin, especially the part from the 60th parallel north, which is the area that we live in.
We are also signatories of the Mackenzie River basin transboundary agreement, and we have to work with the other jurisdictions so that we can in fact have whole watershed management as our priority.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up on some questions a colleague, Mr. Hawkins, had earlier in regard to a patient who was medevacked to Edmonton and who, in fact, is a constituent of mine. I’m going to ask some questions today. I want to try to get a better understanding of what happened and why it is that the government and the Department of Health would send a patient who had a stroke to a facility if they knew there were no rooms there for that patient. The answer that Ms. Lee provided to Mr. Hawkins yesterday wasn’t clear enough for me. Could she explain why they would knowingly send a patient who had a stroke to a hospital that had no room for them?
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to note that it is not the Department of Health that makes the decisions on who gets sent to where for medical care. It’s the doctor at Stanton hospital who decided, because of her condition and her medical needs, that she needed to be sent to Edmonton. My understanding is that in most situations the doctor here communicates with a doctor in the receiving location to make sure they agree to take this patient.
Now, I think it’s also important to note that she did receive and she is receiving the care she needed; it’s just that she couldn’t have her own room. She was in a triage facility in emergency. She was being monitored and tested, and she had attending doctors to make sure that they were looking after her. It was not the ideal situation, but she was being taken care of.
Whether it’s the department’s responsibility or the doctor’s responsibility, I think we have to do our utmost to ensure that when patients from the Northwest Territories are sent south, they actually have a room and will be looked after the way they should be. I agree with Mr. Hawkins; I don’t think 34 hours in an emergency room with a daughter and a three month old baby is appropriate.
I’d like to ask the Minister…. I know that yesterday she had mentioned that other centres like Grande Prairie or perhaps even Calgary were looked at as a possible location to send this constituent of mine. Was that in fact done? Did the doctor look at other locations to send this patient?
My understanding is that the receiving doctor at Capital Health decides where this patient should go. The decision was made that the patient should be sent where she went. Our agreement that we have with Alberta is that we are guaranteed the medical services that Alberta residents get, and that’s what we have.
I didn’t hear an answer on whether or not other locations in Alberta or even…. I’m not sure; maybe the Minister could let us know. What other agreements do we have with health authorities in southern Canada to look after our patients? Are there other options? There are going to be huge demands on Capital Health in Edmonton. If their rooms are full, we need to be looking after our patients, and we have to ensure that this type of scenario is never allowed to play itself out again. So will the Minister answer that question?
I don’t have the detailed information. I believe our agreement is with the Government of Alberta. There might be some subagreements with Capital Health. What happened yesterday is unfortunate. We do want to see that that sort of situation does not happen. But I think it is really important, in the political forum that we are in, that these are medical decisions made by medical practitioners in Stanton and in Edmonton in the best interests of the patients.
Thank you. The time for question period has expired. I will allow the member a final supplementary question. Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I want to ask the Minister…. As I understand it, the bigger issue here is that Capital Health in Alberta is going to a one board approach, which is going to mean a reduction in services to NWT residents. What strategy has the Minister got to deal with situations like this that are going to arise?
There is no evidence to suggest that there is going to be a reduction in services because of the amalgamation of boards. There is no evidence to suggest that what happened to this particular patient has anything to do with amalgamation. Obviously, we as a government want to monitor this situation and make sure that we’re not affected negatively in that way.
Now, I think we have to keep in mind that Capital Health does provide us with very valuable services in many regards. Sometimes we run into problems. I could also advise the Member that I, in fact, talked to the Minister of Health in Alberta himself, when we were in FPT meetings, shortly after he had announced that the boards would be amalgamated. I talked to him on the phone as well to make sure that he understands that Capital Health is a very important service provider and that we continue to have a good working relationship with them.
Time for question period has expired. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on our agenda, oral questions. Thank you.
Unanimous consent granted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to continue questioning, and I certainly want to thank Mr. Ramsay for helping on this issue, because it is an important issue for this family in Yellowknife.
I continued to ask the Minister four times yesterday: would she provide a written apology to this family in light of the way that this family was treated and certainly in recognition of the duration that this process went on? Is the Minister willing to write apology to this family and also recognize what she will be doing to make sure this does not happen again in the future?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am always willing to take responsibility and apologize where necessary, but I am not sure if I could apologize on behalf of the services provided by the Government of Alberta. I am not the Minister in Alberta. These are decisions made by the doctor in Stanton and the doctor at the receiving end. I think it is unfortunate and regrettable that this situation happened. I believe that the department officials and the people responsible at this end did everything we could to help with the patient and the family.
Mr. Speaker, all those hospitals in Alberta, all those hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton and elsewhere, yet there were no beds. I’m wondering who is taking responsibility for sending one of our patients, who was in dire need of serious medical care, to a hospital, or certainly a city, that has no beds. Is the Minister willing to take responsibility specifically for that and write an apology on that issue so this family has some healing and can go forward?
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have the information on what decisions were made to see whether it would have been better for the patient to be sent elsewhere or to be moved and on what condition. I don’t know any of that information. I’d be happy to undertake, for the Member, to have officials review this file and see what happened and whether there should be any steps taken.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like the Minister to explain a paradox. At one moment she’ll take responsibility, and at another moment she’s not responsible because it’s a doctor’s situation. At the one moment it’s Capital Health’s decision where to send the patient, yet she acknowledges that she spent all day on the phone. I’m really confused. If she doesn’t have control, why does she bother calling? If she’s the Minister, I would think she’d be in charge and respectful and do the honourable thing by providing a written apology to the family. But then she says it’s not her responsibility.
So who’s responsible for this particular situation? I’ll certainly take her up on that potential review. Ultimately I want to know: is she going to take responsibility and provide a written apology for this family? That is what they’re asking for; that’s what I’m asking for.
I did what I think the Member expects a Minister to do. When the patient’s husband called me at my office and told me what was going on, I directed the department to look into it. That is what I did. And I was advised of what was going on in between some of the actions the government was taking.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am responsible as the Minister of Health and Social Services and as a Member of this Assembly to respond to calls I get at my office, and that is what I did on Monday. I am willing to have the department review this file and also look to see what had happened and what we could do to see if we could do anything to prevent this from happening again, with the understanding that the doctors decide. We cannot second guess the doctors’ understanding, and they decide where these patients go.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
